The Last
by artificialxlove
Summary: The Lady of the Northern Makai never thought it would be Koenma she would turn to for help, but when a rising power against the Makai alliance with the Reikai starts to cause trouble, she has no choice. [HieixOC]
1. To Suffer A Loss

**Prologue**

**  
**A laugh rang throughout the air. The small girl ran through the shallows of an ocean, feet slapping on the wet sand. Her deep chocolate hair was held back in a braid that bounced against her back as she ran.

"You can do better than that!" she shouted over her shoulder, pumping her legs faster. Her simple brown tunic was soaked with a mixture of salt water and sweat. She glanced over her shoulder and sped up.

"Slow down, Emerald! You know I can't keep up!" yelled back a boy, running half-heartedly after her. His light hair stuck up in odd directions and his eyes were steely gray flecked with gold.

The girl slowed down reluctantly and gazed back at her friend with a playfully reproachful look. He collapsed next to her and lay sprawled on the ground, trying to enjoy every bit of the small breeze that came off of the ocean. Emerald stood with her hands on her hips and allowed the wind to cool her off. The boy cracked open an eye to look up at her and groaned.

"How do you do it?"

The young girl grinned. "Do what, my good friend Tucker?"

"Keep going. And going, and going."

Emerald shrugged. "You know my father. He trains me nearly every day until he thinks I've made improvement. I have to do all sorts of things like running and fighting with wooden poles. It's annoying, really."

"Yes, well, my father trains me too and I'm still not as good at running as you."

"Well, I'm just better at a lot of things."

Tucker glared. "Are not."

"Bet you I am."

Tucker swung his arm around and hit it into the back of Emerald's calf, knocking her over and making her land heavily on her back. The breath whooshed out of her and there was brief pain before she blinked a few times and gathered her bearings about her. She scrambled to sit up.

"That wasn't fair!" she cried. "You cheated!"

"Did not!"

"My back was turned; you're not supposed to attack someone whose back is turned. It's the cardinal rule of fighting, stupid."

Tucker huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm not stupid."

"Well, maybe a _little_."

Tucker gave her a playful shove and the two burst into giggles. When they stopped they fell into a comfortable silence staring out at the ocean, both busying themselves by burying their feet in the warm sand. Tucker stretched and leaned back on his elbows, giving a small yawn.

"Do you think we'll live in Mexico forever, Em?"

Emerald glanced at him and patted the sand down on top of her feet. "I don't know. _I_'ve never been out of the village and I don't know anyone else who has. And the only people who come visit us are Jin and his father, and they come to trade with us."

"Do you think anyone knows we're here?"

"If they do, they've never bothered us before. Why?"

Tucker smiled. "Wouldn't it be fun to get out of here and see what else is in the world? I want to see if things are the same as they are here. Do you think everyone speaks Spanish like we do?"

Emerald laughed. "No, silly! Jin told me he and his father speak a language called Japanese. And have you noticed that Jin has a weird accent? From what he told me, there are lots of other languages, too. Like one called English…"

"English? That's weird."

"Is not," said Emerald defensively, "I think it sounds cool."

Tucker raised his eyebrows. "You're an idiot, Emer-"

There was a loud bang and small whizzing sound and Tucker's shoulder sprayed blood all over the front of Emerald's tunic. Tucker screamed in pain while Emerald stayed rooted to the spot in shock, her breaths coming in short gasps. The bullet had passed right through his upper arm and come out the other side, ripping up his arm but thankfully not hitting bone.

Emerald watched in shock as Tucker continued screaming, clutching his arm and getting frantically to his feet. She scrambled up after him and watched as he sprinted into the forest. She got a glimpse of three men standing off to the side, one of them holding a gun that was still smoking on the end.

_How did they find us? _she thought in panic, eyes wide as she streaked after her hysteric friend.

She threw herself behind a tree as another bang blasted into her hearing, and the bullet whipped away pieces of bark before lodging itself in a tree farther into the forest. Emerald peeked around the tree at the three men running towards her and then sprinted away, her legs pumping fast. She followed the drops of blood that were spread erratically over the ground and soon came upon Tucker, lying in the middle of a small clearing.

"Get up, Tucker," said Emerald, beautiful green tear gems falling down her cheeks. She shook him and Tucker screamed in pain again, squeezing his eyes closed and clutching his arm. Emerald's eyes widened and she immediately withdrew from him. "Please, get up. They're coming. They'll kill you."

"I can't get up," said Tucker weakly. "I've lost too much blood for my spirit energy to help heal me. I can barely stay awake."

"But you have to get up," said Emerald in distress, more gems falling down her cheeks. "I can't leave you here all alone, Tucker. If I do then there's no way you'll be able to get back."

Emerald froze as the three men stepped out into sight, their eyes gleaming with greed at spotting the tear gems that Emerald had cried out in her misery. She grabbed Tucker's wrist defensively, but looked fearfully at the madness on the faces of the three men before her.

_Why do they hate us? _asked Emerald. _If they wanted our tear gems, then why are they trying to kill us? _A light went off in Emerald's head. _Papa is always going away to fight. Maybe these men are trying to kill us because we fight them?_

"Emerald, go," murmured Tucker, his eyes drooping closed.

One of the men started walking at a fast pace towards Emerald and she stood rooted in fear, not wanting to leave her friend to die even as every instinct told her she should be running away as fast as she could. Even if she did run away, would she just be leading these people to her home and the rest of her family?

When the man was almost upon her, Tucker sat up faster than Emerald had ever seen him move before and dug his small hunting knife into the man's calf. At the same time he shoved Emerald away with his other hand, eyes frantic as he tried to convey to his friend how important it was that she obey him so she could live. At least then she would have a chance instead of them both dying.

"Go, Emerald," he whispered, not taking his eyes off the two other men who were running to help their comrade. His eyes met Emerald's and suddenly he seemed much older than he actually was, his mouth set in a tight line and his face grim.

With a sob, Emerald scrambled to her feet once again and stumbled towards the other side of the clearing, the sound of another gunshot exploding behind her. She continued on, the branches of the forest that had once welcomed her now whipping her face and slowing her progress almost as if it wished to keep her from her home, where she would be safely back in the arms of her mother.

What would she tell Tucker's mother? She'd already lost her husband, and now Emerald would have to tell her that her son was killed as well. Emerald wasn't good with words, but she felt it was her responsibility to tell the mother. She had to convey to her that she hadn't abandoned Tucker; she would have stayed there with them if he hadn't been so insistent on her saving herself.

A faint smell met Emerald's nose and she slowed some, her brow furrowed in confusion. It smelled a lot like when her father burnt a campfire to tell stories around to the other children, except this was a lot stronger and burned her eyes. Her already fast heartbeat picked up in speed as she broke through the last stretch of trees to come into the meadow her village was in.

"Oh, Goddess," murmured Emerald, her heart skipping a beat.

Before her wasn't the beautiful village she'd come to love, but instead burning huts that had once been homes to people she knew; people she loved. Now all that was left were burning piles of wood.

Emerald clutched at her golden locket around her neck, alongside it on the chain the first tear gem she'd ever cried. A child's first tear gem was extremely valuable because the rest they cried were all normal, while the first was the only one like it in the world. Tear gems were also believed to predict a person's lifemate. Emerald's first tear gem was an emerald green to represent her eyes, swirled with a vivid crimson.

More tear gems slipped down Emerald's cheeks as she looked around at the destruction that had been caused to her peaceful village. Bodies were strewn about, killed in the way only her race could be. Her legs jolted into action and she streaked towards her hut, skirting around the other burning huts. The heat radiating off of them made her tunic stick to her with sweat and her skin hot, but she pressed in.

Emerald stared at what had been her home, flames still ablaze on the weakened roof. Her eyes welled with more tears, but none fell. She felt as if she'd cried them all up already.

"Mama?" shouted Emerald, trying to step closer to the hut to see if her mother or father were still in there. They would've run to safety, wouldn't they? They wouldn't have stayed and fought, would they? "Pa-Papa?"

The roof of her hut collapsed and sent ashes and cinders outwards in a rush. Emerald covered her eyes with her forearm and felt her lungs burn as she inhaled what had been light enough to be carried on the air currents. She coughed in the hopes that her lungs would clear, but all she got was smoke on the next inhalation.

Remembering what her father had taught her, Emerald crouched down low to escape the smoke and then looked around for a way she could escape into the forest, the village unknown to her in the blaze. To her right, she spotted a small fireball ignite and her attention was captured. She scrambled towards it and immediately started trying to put it out with dirt from the ground, recognizing it as her father's katana.

"No," she sobbed. "No, no, no."

When she was sure the fire had been put out, she dug the katana up and shook the dirt off, immediately letting go when she realized it was still hot from the flames. Her fingers were burnt from trying to put the flames out, though the wounds healed up when she willed her spirit energy to. Though it was a little worse for wear, she figured that when it cooled down she'd still be able to use it.

After a moment and she was sure it was safe, she tied it around her waist without caring that it dragged on the ground a little bit. Eyes red and puffy, ashes dusting her hair, clothing torn and bloody, and without any real direction, Emerald walked into the forest with a determined expression, looking out of place on her young face. She had no family, no friends.

She was the last.


	2. Help From An Outsider

**Chapter One**

I awoke from the dream and almost fell off the branch I was sleeping on, sweat pouring down my face. I gripped the bark to keep from tumbling the two stories to the ground and was rewarded with numerous splinters in my palms. Wiping my forehead with the front of my shirt, I leaned against the trunk of the tree, breathing heavily. Every night I had the same dream, and every night I woke up like this. I considered it an enormous blessing that I'd woken after the sun had risen.

After doing a few deep-breathing exercises, I stood shakily on the branch and listened for any disturbances in the forest. My feet welcomed and gripped the bark beneath their callused soles, having had to endure the rough surface for a little over two weeks. My hearing sharpened and zoned in on the sounds of crashing through the underbrush. It was either a very irate bear, or a very stupid human.

Without a second thought I leaped nimbly to the ground and pressed my ear to the cool earth, closing my eyes to concentrate better. I could hear the dull thudding of footsteps, and lifted my head with a frown. They were definitely human, and there was definitely more than one.

A gunshot came from the same direction I'd heard the commotion, able to hear it from this distance with no trouble. My head whirled at the noise and my stomach lurched unpleasantly, temples throbbing. I growled in displeasure and pushed my surfacing memories back down where I could make sure they wouldn't disturb me. I leaped up and landed delicately on the branch.

Muscles in my legs tensed as I got ready to jump to the next tree. Pushing off, I easily landed on another branch and my feet accepted the harsh bark. Getting my "tree-legs" after just waking up, I moved faster and swifter from branch to branch. My bare feet were used to the bark of the trees that had so long been home to me, the calluses on the bottom of my feet making a kind of protective cushioning.

When I had been tree-hopping for roughly a minute, I came upon a tiny clearing no more than twenty feet across. In the middle was a deer whose back leg was dragging pathetically behind it. Looking closer, I saw a tiny black hole in the upper part of the leg where a bullet was lodged. A growl escaped my throat, eyes darting back and forth for any sign of the being that did this. Seconds later three men walked into the clearing, hooting and cheering at their success. With the way they'd been carelessly walking through the forest, it took barely any guesswork at all to assume the hit had been lucky instead of purposeful.

I jumped down from the tree I'd been observing them in and stood protectively in front of the deer. The men blinked, confused. After all, who ever heard of a woman running around alone in a forest? They regarded me for a second before one of them spoke up.

"Who the hell are you?" snapped one, waving his hunting rifle threateningly in my direction.

My nose wrinkled in disgust at the contraption, preferring the use of a katana or dagger. The dagger I particularly treasured because I had stolen it off a hunter once I had killed him, sharpening it to perfection afterwards. I felt he deserved having his possessions stolen from him; he had tried clubbing a cub to death for its fur. There was not a chance in the world I would let him live after witnessing that scene.

"Get out of here, _baka onna_, and we won't hurt you, alright?" said another, bringing his rifle up to the shooting position, resting against his shoulder. His face was a mask of calm.

Raising an eyebrow I stood firm and crossed my arms, refusing to budge.

"Let's just kill her and get it over with," snarled the first man. "Kito and Kato can help us move her body when she's good and dead."

"What do we need to kill her for?" said the one who hadn't spoken up until now. Nervous sweat was running down both sides of his face and he was shaking in his hunting boots. "Can't we ju-just let her go?"

"Of course not," said the angry man, glaring at his companion. "The first thing she's going to do when she gets back to town is tell the authorities that she saw three men hunting in the woods. Then she'll identify us, and then they'll find us, and then they'll figure out that we don't have hunting licenses."

The calm one rolled his eyes. "Just kill her, you idiot."

"Alright," stuttered the nervous one, gulping. He brought his rifle up shakily to his shoulder and closed one eye to better focus on me, pushing up his glasses to his forehead.

I kept my emotionless stare as I shifted my left foot behind my right, hand wrapped tight around the handle of my katana. The least I could do when they shot at me was to make myself a smaller target. I knew I was fast, but I wasn't quite sure I was fast enough to dodge the bullets of men who were desperate to have me dead. As soon as the first gun went off, however, I grinned.

This was going to be fun.

I fell backwards in a controlled fall and heard the _whiz_ of the bullet pass over me. Knowing I was more vulnerable lying on the ground than I was standing and able to dodge out of the way of more bullets, I put my palms flat on the ground by my head and pushed myself up onto my feet. The first bullet had been easy, but I knew there were more coming.

The eyes of the men went wide and they all backed away a step or two. They were ruthless, they had guns; why couldn't they put a hole in me? If they had known what I really was, they wouldn't have stood there and questioned their inability to kill me. They would've run as fast as their murderous legs could carry them instead.

I reluctantly drew my katana out of its sheath, not wanting to taint its blade with the blood of those who were unworthy of it. It was my best weapon and, usually, one of my last resorts.

Another _bang _and my wrist flicked my katana, hitting the bullet at such an angle that it failed to pierce the metal and, thus, failed to pierce me. It sunk into the ground and stayed there, where I kept a wary eye on it. It wouldn't do to have me stepping on it, or I'd find myself with a nasty burn on the bottom of my foot.

The next time one of the guns fired, I didn't have time to move before it was ripping into my thigh. I roared in pain and allowed a low growl to rumble out of my throat, my entire body tense with rage. I had been willing to allow these men to live, even if they'd committed such an atrocious crime, and a bullet in the leg is what my mercy towards them had landed me.

I leapt forward and sliced their heads off.

With a clatter my katana fell to the ground, the blood of the men still fresh on its blade. I was bent over, clutching my leg and trying to stem the flow. The red liquid pouring from the stumps of the three men carried a vial scent and made me gag. Their blood was tainted with something. To add to my annoyance, no matter how tightly I grasped it, my wound just poured out the blood with, as it seemed, no intentions of stopping.

There was a scuffling behind me and I whipped around to see the deer trying helplessly to run away. It kept slipping on the pine needles that blanketed the ground and whimpering. My eyes softened as I limped over and scrutinized its injury. The bullet in its leg had missed the bone, unlike mine, wedging itself into a fleshy piece of meat. The deer turned its head to look at me, curious at my actions, for I'm sure it'd never met a human who didn't want to skin and eat it.

Murmuring comforting words, I slowly pinched the bullet out between my fingers. Once or twice the deer flinched, but it was a clever creature and would not risk the dangers of what might happen if the pellet wasn't removed. After I had worked it free I dropped the piece of lead to the ground and lightly tapped the deer's flank, making it start and run off as best as it could in surprise. They healed quickly, it would be okay.

Unfortunately, I was not so lucky. As soon as the deer left a wave of pain washed over me, sending me stumbling backwards and into the trunk of a tree. A grunt escaped my lips as I gained my footing and tried standing upright; my pride damaged though no one was around. Wiping the blood off my hands onto my simple brown tunic, I snatched my katana off the ground.

I could feel the bullet sizzling inside the wound it'd created and had to work hard to keep from screaming. Quickly, I yanked the leather tie that held my hair away from my face out, ignoring the few unlucky hairs that were ripped out of my scalp with it. I quickly tied the leather strip above my wound, pulling it so tight it made a little ravine in the skin of my thigh.

I waited until the blood pumping from the wound slowed and then stripped my shirt over my head, glancing around me. I would find myself in a very compromising situation if someone happened upon me in that moment, and I didn't see myself wishing to go through that ordeal. I sat heavily on the ground as I balled my shirt up, my foot tapping incessantly at the burning the metal of the bullet was causing me. Taking a deep breath, I shoved my shirt into my mouth with one hand and grabbed my katana with the other.

Now came the hard part.

Quickly, so I didn't have much time to think about it, I shoved the point of my katana into the open wound. My vision swam unsteadily as I screamed into the cloth of my shirt, biting down on the material hard enough that my teeth grinded together. I screamed until my throat was raw, and then screamed some more.

I drew my katana back out and laid it next to me, taking labored breaths through my pain. Now that the wound was big enough for me to reach my fingers inside to grab the bullet, I did so. I won't go into details, and I won't say how much of a mess I made, but I will say that nothing has ever hurt so much in my life. Being shot in the leg was a bitch.

A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I dug a small hole and buried the bullet in it, hoping that no animal would happen upon it and mistake it for food. I could hear myself wheezing pathetically as I untied the leather strap from around my leg, replacing it instead with my shirt. I felt vulnerable in the threadbare shirt I wore underneath, but felt it was better than nothing at all.

Determined, I bent my knees to jump onto a branch and head back towards my oak to heal. However, before I had even left the ground my leg throbbed in pain, causing me to trip backwards and land on my back. The breath was knocked out of me as I lay in a daze on the ground, blood starting to flow steadily from the wound once more and seeping through the shirt. I growled, annoyed with myself for being so weak, and stood once more.

Brushing strands of dark hair that had fallen into my face, I glared at my stubborn leg and mentally cursed it. Sweat glistened on my forehead in the steadily increasing summer heat, and I wiped it with my forearm in annoyance. Now, of all times, I had to be pathetically weak. The dagger that had so fascinated me had been my next choice of training equipment, but that option was no longer open to me now that I'd been injured.

Scowling bitterly, I unstrapped my whole katana from around my waist, putting it under my right armpit. I bent my right leg at the knee and held the katana, sheath and all, with my right hand. The sheath poked painfully into my armpit, but I blocked out the lesser pain and focused on moving myself along. With my makeshift crutch, I moved through the woods without an idea of where I was headed. I had never wandered in this direction from the oak I slept in, not wanting to risk moving closer to the more civilized part of Tokyo, Japan.

Wincing with every step, I moved quite fast for a person badly injured and using a not-to-comfortable support. The trees started thinning, but I took no cautious actions, believing I was coming to a clearing. A clearing would be perfect for treating my leg, so at this prospect I moved even quicker.

I did break into a clearing, immediately taking pride in knowing one was coming, though in the middle no more than fifty yards away was a Japanese-style temple. Its roof curved out and up towards the sky, seemingly reaching for the heavens above. Its shingles were a deep black while the color of the building itself was a shade of brown. A dirt circle outlined in white with a diameter of about thirty feet stood a little off to the side, probably used as a training arena. A few other smaller buildings were spread out around the greater temple, most likely serving many different purposes, with the same structure and color design as the superior place of worship.

I froze, scared at the prospect of meeting people I had no reason to kill, and stood there with my arm resting on a katana as well as my leg hanging pitifully in the air behind me. Someone slid open a door on the large sanctuary and stepped out, their feet padding quietly on the small, wooden porch.

At first I thought the person was a child, their head coming to no more than my shoulder, though at this distance it was not simple to see. However, on second glance, I caught more of their physical appearance. The face was slightly wrinkled, signifying to me that this person was, while not a child, an old woman. Her dusty pink, wavy hair reached just barely below her shoulders, hair that seemed it had once been soft and elegant in her earlier years. Though she was small, she held a look of confidence and strength about her. In her right hand she held a smoking cigarette that looked as if it had just been lit, the other hand placed behind her straight back. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground, apart and pointed outwards, while her chin was tilted slightly upwards. All this observing of the woman had taken me no more than a few seconds.

As she was taking a drag on her cigarette, she appeared to sense me and her eyes flitted in my direction. I held eye contact with her as the two of us tensed, wondering what the other's next move was going to be. She seemed to decide before me.

"Who are you?" she asked in a slightly raspy voice, walking down the three stairs of the porch. She spoke in Japanese, a language I knew well. The smooth words rolled off her tongue with ease.

Dropping the cigarette onto the grass she twisted her foot roughly on top of it, smoldering it. Afterwards she stood in the same position as she had on the porch, save the fact that both her hands were now clasped behind her back.

I blinked, confused. This woman was most peculiar. One, she had not shown any fear at seeing a stranger in her territory and two, the first question she asked was what my name was. Usually when I snuck up on hunters they were attack first and ask questions later personalities. No, not this woman, though. Even her voice failed to carry a trace of surprise. Most peculiar indeed.

"Did you hear me or not?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"_Yo le oí mujer_," I growled in Spanish.

There was not a hope in the world I was about to tell her my name when I had first met her. I was insulted that this old hag would be stupid enough to believe that for even a second.

"I know you heard me, dimwit. Now don't insult me," she shot back, striding over.

Unsure of what she was going to do and surprised she understood Spanish; I hopped backwards and away from her. She paused midway through reaching me and raised an eyebrow, obviously amused at my actions to move farther from her.

"I guess it would help if I told you my name?" she demanded more than asked.

I waited patiently for an answer.

"It's Genkai. I see you're wounded," she pointed out, her eyes resting on my still-bleeding leg.

It was then as I remembered my injury that the pain washed over me once more. Much to my dismay, I fell to my knees with a grunt of anger at being weak in front of this Genkai person. My makeshift crutch fell to the ground and lay to my side, out of reach. Immediately I knew this was not okay if I was to make a quick escape, desperate to conceal my presence even if it meant injuring this old woman.

"Genkai, what is going on?" asked a shy voice from within the temple.

A woman who was no older than me with mint green hair and cherry-red eyes walked out of the still-open door donned in a sky blue kimono. Her hair was in a low ponytail and a few loose strands fell at the sides of her face. Almost instantaneously I mentally groaned, knowing there was no possible way I could hurt this new stranger. She was too innocent and sweet for me to physically harm, where Genkai was hardened with the experience of, as it appeared, many fights under her belt. This new woman looked like she had never fought a day in her life and never would if she could prevent to do so.

"It seems we have a visitor, Yukina," replied Genkai.

"Oh goodness! She's hurt!" gasped Yukina, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Appears that way, doesn't it?" said Genkai as Yukina walked up beside her.

I lowered my head in shame as these people talked about the extent of my wounds, feeling pitiful and useless. The two women conversed between themselves for a few seconds before Yukina turned towards the temple. She cupped her hands around her mouth as a makeshift amplifier.

"Kayko! Botan! Please come out here!" she called.

Two other women walked out of the temple, confusion written all over their faces. The first one to walk out had shoulder length dirt-brown hair with scattered bangs and brown eyes, dressed in clothes that confused me. How was someone supposed to fight in clothes that were so…restricting? I had seen young females dress like this when I made brief visits to the city for supplies, guessing them to be uniforms for their school.

The other woman had long cerulean hair in a high ponytail, a few slightly curly strands tucked neatly behind her ears. Her eyes were a dull pink, but sparkled with a happiness I had never seen or known before. She was dressed in a pink kimono that I suspected was just as cheery as her personality would be. In her left hand she carried an oar, which I found peculiar seeing as these devices were usually, to my knowledge, used on a rowboat.

"What is it, Yukina?" asked the brown-haired one.

"Someone is wounded, Kayko!" cried Yukina, pointing a finger to me.

Taking an educated guess, now that I knew the brown-haired one was Kayko, I deduced the other woman was Botan. Kayko and Botan's eyes went from Yukina's face to mine, both having the same shocked reaction.

"When did she get here?" asked Kayko, running down the three steps and beside the other two with Botan trailing just as fast behind her.

"Don't know. Came out here after talking with you three for a smoke and saw her standing there still as stone," explained Genkai, her eyes showing the tiniest bit of regret at the thought of her no longer existing cigarette.

"Well, shouldn't we help her?" queried Botan, eyebrows pinched together.

"Tries running every time we move closer," said Genkai, absentmindedly waving an exasperated hand in my direction.

"She looks too wounded to move though," Kayko shot back.

"Sometimes when people are desperate, pain is disregarded for the greater good," replied Genkai nobly, giving me another reason to believe that she had endured many fights in her time. She spoke the words of a true warrior.

"Happy," mumbled Botan. Then to me she called, "We're not going to hurt you!"

I snarled, getting slowly and painfully to my feet.

She gave me a hurt look at the act of hostility with the corners of her mouth pulled downward into a disappointed frown, probably wondering why I was being so evasive. Perhaps she had never met a character of such stubbornness as mine. I did not dwell on it long though, for blackness was starting to gather at the corner of my eyes from blood loss. The four women noticed me swaying on my feet and the three younger ones made a move to catch me, but I steadied myself and growled at them as a warning to stay away.

"Please! We want to help you!" called Yukina anxiously.

Genkai, however, seized in her hand a cigarette and lighter from her pocket. She proceeded to nonchalantly light the cigarette and take a long drag, savoring the smoke filling her senses. I had never been one for smoking because it destroyed the lungs and made it hard for me to run at quick speeds without having to stop every few minutes to catch my breath. The old woman's actions were not hurried or slow, they were relaxed and confident, signs that she knew my time conscious were limited. A growl welled in my throat at how smart and observant she was. Damn her.

The wind rustled through the trees, making them sway in the wind. A few exceptionally tall ones creaked and leaned dangerously to the side, getting on in their years because of wood rot and erosion from endless times of being beaten by the weather.

"I think we found the murderer," shouted a gruff voice from the woods behind me. It was shortly followed by a rustling of bushes and two pairs of feet walking behind me.

I turned around to see two men dressed in camouflage outfits and rifles tucked under their arms. Immediately I could tell they were twins, both having fit bodies, brown hair, and blue eyes. Their combat boots thudded against the ground as they moved closer to me, eyeing my leg but still wearing a look of anger on their faces.

"She has blood all over her; who else would it be?'

_Kito and Kato_, I thought automatically. _The friends of the hunters._

The next thing I knew, the butt of his rifle was connecting with the side of my head. Add the fact that I was already blacking out from blood loss, and I hit the ground like a wet towel. Barely conscious, I saw stars as I was lying on my stomach on the ground. My hands were lying on the ground palm-down beside my head. A scream came from one of the women and brought me back to reality as a pair of combat boots walked into my view.

"I don't stand for people killing my friends," whispered one in my ear.

An involuntary shiver ran up my spine at the hate and rage in his voice. He wanted to kill me. He _needed _to kill me. Unwilling to subject the women - especially the innocent Yukina - to violence just yet, I kept my actions docile. So, instead of retaliating, I pushed myself up with my arms and slowly stumbled to my feet.

Something warm trickled down my face from my temple, and I reached a hand up and tenderly touched it. When I brought my hand back down, on my fingers was blood that slowly ran down to my knuckles. Infuriated with this injury, I clenched my fist and looked at the two men who once again had their guns pointed at me. A pleasing visual of me ripping their sneering faces off came into my mind. For the moment, I swallowed my anger and the deadly look in my eyes fazed into a calm one.

"And did these people help you?" asked the other, motioning over my shoulder to the four women.

"I believe they did," replied the one who'd hit me, pushing me aside and aiming his gun at Yukina. He placed his finger on the trigger and closed one of his eyes to better align her head with the barrel of the gun.

The anger washed over me more intensely than it had before, making me clench my fists hard enough to draw blood where my fingernails pierced the skin. The visual of ripping their faces off came back, but this time I proceeded to rip out their entrails as well. I believed that killing the innocent was an act of cowardice and should never go unpunished. These men were reaching out for someone they could kill, anyone that was available to them. I struggled with my emotions, clenching and unclenching my fists in robotic motions. The brother's finger tensed, a sure sign that he was about to shoot, and I kicked the end of the rifle just as it went off. The bullet shot harmlessly into the air.

"So you wanna be the hero, huh?" he snarled, his twin walking up beside him.

My only action was lowering my foot and narrowing my eyes, a fire burning in them that would have been a warning signal to anyone with common sense. The fact that these men felt that they had the power to torment and push me around simply because I was a female made me sick. They were in for the surprise of their life if they expected me to be a weakling.

"Want to take care of her, Kito?"

"With pleasure, Kato."

Kito promptly dropped his gun at his feet and swung at me with his large fist. I moved my head to the side and his hand whistled by my ear. Without moving my gaze from his eyes, I reached up with one hand and wrapped it around his wrist. I squeezed and felt Kito's wrist shatter, leaving it limp and useless. A roar of hurt escaped his lips as he clutched his injured hand close to him.

While he was still subdued with pain, I brought my leg up and thrust my foot into his crotch. His eyes widened and he doubled over in pain, not refraining from placing his hands protectively over the area. Before Kito could do any more damage, I grabbed his chin and the top of his head and jerked those different ways, breaking his neck.

Kato watched his fallen brother for a few moments before turning to me with a look of fear, though through the fear I could see a maddening anger welling up like a snake about to strike. A sound of outrage escaped his throat as he aimed his gun at my body and shot sloppily. I hit the ground in a horizontal split and swung my right leg around to knock his feet out from under him, thoroughly frightening him. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish searching for flakes of food on the surface of its aquarium as he lay on the ground in a state of shock. While he was still immobile in astonishment I snatched the gun from the ground, swung it around so the barrel was now facing him, and shot him at point black range between the eyes. His whole body jerked and the back of his head exploded onto the ground, spraying bits of skull and brain onto the grass. I rose from the ground and easily broke the rifle in two over my knee.

I hadn't moved from where I'd been standing.

Throwing the two gun pieces onto the ground and spitting on the corpses of the men, I turned to the four women who were rooted to the spot in shock, even Genkai. I turned my back to them and painfully bent down to pick up my katana, keeping in mind the bullet lost within the depths of my thigh and my now burnt palms from the metal. Strapping it to my waist, I turned back around to face the women. I walked as best I could to them with a look of confidence, though I'm sure they could see me clench my jaw every time I stepped on the wounded leg.

The three ladies nodded hesitantly at me as I walked down the line to Genkai, standing before her. A few tense seconds passed and then I held out my hand to her.

"The name is Emerald."


	3. Memories

**Chapter Two **

Genkai took my hand and held it in a firm grip, which took me not at all by surprise with the actions she had been displaying in the little amount of time I had known her. I dropped my hand back to my side and looked into the eyes of everyone else.

"Why the sudden change in heart?" asked Genkai, taking a drag on the cigarette.

"Would you rather have me bleed all over your holy place?" I shot back.

She regarded me for a second before replying, "Not at all."

Genkai turned on her heel and walked towards the temple, obviously meaning for us to follow her. I obliged and walked behind her in confident, quick, long strides while Yukina walked beside me. She looked at me nervously out of the corner of her eye, seemingly trying to come up with something to say to me.

"Thank you," she finally whispered.

"It was not your time to die," I replied, not taking my eyes off the temple.

I was blunt, I know, but what else was I supposed to say? I'm not sure if she took comfort in those words or not, for she was silent the whole way back to the temple. Maybe she feared me? Good. We weren't going to become acquaintances anytime soon if I could help it.

"Botan, go fetch some water from the well," commanded Genkai, grinding the end of her cigarette into an ashtray on a table. Botan nodded, placed her oar against the wall, ran out of the doors of the temple, and turned right towards somewhere out of my vision.

"Please lay down," soothed Yukina.

I looked around the relatively small room, my eyes coming to rest on a small futon on the floor in the corner with some blankets tossed over it. Quirking an eyebrow, I walked over and sat down, oblivious to my blood soaking the white sheets.

Kayko emerged from a separate room with a box of bandages and medicine in her hands. My eyes widened at the appearance of the medication, never having used anything more advanced than old plant remedies. Seeing these modern things made me fully come to realize that I didn't think I would be able to go back to my peaceful oak in the forest. These women were gentle, yes, but wouldn't let me out of their sight after this meeting.

Botan rushed into the room with a large wooden bucket held between her hands, back bent over with the effort of carrying the massive thing. She tottered precariously from side to side as she stumbled over to me. Setting the bucket down by the futon rather roughly, she wiped her forehead with her forearm and puffed out her cheeks as she let out a breath.

"Stretch out your leg," said Genkai, sitting down Indian-style in front of me.

I did as I was told and she placed my foot in her lap, making me feel uncomfortable because I had not had any real contact with humans since that tragic night my village was wiped out. Forcefully blinking away the bluriness in my eyes, I watched as Genkai dipped a clean rag into the bucket of water and moved it up and down over my leg to clear it of the blood so she could better see and treat my injury.

When she came close to my wound I tensed and nervously watched the cloth. Genkai seemed to sense my sudden stiffness and lightly dabbed the tender area with a carefulness I did not think possible for a hardened soul like her. Eventually, my leg was completely clean, enabling me to see my injury better. From what I could tell, it was not very pretty. Green was already starting to tinge the edges and pus was leaking out in small amounts. I had to turn away at the sight, but Genkai stood firm.

"Kayko, hand me the medicine jar that's glass is tinted a purplish color," instructed Genkai, holding out her hand to Kayko without taking her eyes off the wound. Kayko dug through the bin of medicines before finally taking one particularly small one from within its depths and placing it into Genkai's outstretched hand.

"This is going to hurt," said Genkai bluntly.

She unscrewed the top and tipped the bottle slightly over my wound, causing the unknown liquid to come out in a fine trickle. As soon as it touched my wound it sizzled and a thin layer of foam bubbled on top. My hands clenched around fistfuls of blanket until my knuckles turned white, the burning sensation almost unbearable. Teeth grinding together in an attempt to keep from crying out in pain, I finally released my grip on the blankets as the feeling died down. Looking at the sheets, I saw I had ripped ten holes into them where my fingernails were digging in. I discreetly folded the sheets so no one would notice and looked back up to see Genkai had already bandaged my leg.

"It needs a week or so to heal," noted Yukina, giving me a warm smile.

I lowered my eyes to my wound and knew that it would heal much quicker. Injuries had always been a trivial matter to me and this wound would have been all too easy for me to take care of if I had ended up at my oak instead of here. Oh, well. Fate had obviously brought me here for a reason, even if it was completely unknown to me.

"I insist on guarding your temple to repay the favor," I said.

Genkai regarded me for a moment before saying, "Knock yourself out."

I gave a curt nod and worked myself to my feet, my thigh's pain reduced to a dull throbbing. Tightening my katana around my waist, I gave a two finger salute before walking out the door and towards the woods. I nonchalantly grabbed a branch of a tree and swung up and over, ending up in a crouching position on top of it.

Leaning my back against the trunk of the tree, I broke off a twig and peeled off the bark. Once the green was showing I began to chew on it, the flavor a slight mint. When the part I was chewing on became too frayed to continue, I gnawed on the other end. This was my simple, but strangely efficient, way of keeping my teeth white and healthy. I climbed lazily up to a branch higher up and sat down, closing my eyes.

"It _would_ have been nice if you'd told me you were leaving the oak tree," came a slightly annoyed voice from below me.

Shifting my weight so I could see the ground, my eyes landed on a small white fox with very light blue eyes, icy as some people would call them. The tip of its tail, tip of its ears, and its paws were the same color as the eyes, blending with the white so well I had to strain to see there was even a color difference. The fox was looking up at me and I knew he would be scowling if his animal features allowed it.

"Hello, Hikaru."

"I'll take that as an apology," replied the fox.

He leaped into the tree and as he did his features shifted into those of a human, so now crouching on the branch in front of me was a man my age. His hair was white and in a loose low ponytail that went down to his mid-back with a few strands falling at the sides of his face, tips that icy blue. Looking into his eyes, they were also the same icy blue as the fox.

"You can take it as whatever you believe it to be," I smirked.

"Next time tell me where you're going. My nose is still sore from trying to catch your scent for so long. You smell very good, by the way. You're a mixture of pine trees and rain. Humans should make a perfume of it," mused Hikaru, looking at a fingernail absentmindedly.

"Tch."

"You're quite the conversationalist today," mumbled Hikaru.

The next moment a pine cone connected with the side of his head, surprising him and causing him to let out a little yelp. He rubbed his head as he gazed at the pinecone, now on the ground, and turned slowly to be greeted with the sight of me smirking devilishly. A scowl crossed his face as he picked a piece of pinecone out of his hair and threw it at me, hitting my foot.

"You're lucky I've taken a liking to you or you would be regretting that," growled Hikaru, crossing his arms and glaring at me.

"You're luckier, because if that piece of pinecone had hit my wound your head would be on the ground right now," I shot back, gesturing to my leg that was hanging off the branch. I plucked the piece of branch out of my mouth and threw it onto the ground.

"Now how did that happen? Did you kill another hunter?"

"I don't kill them, I merely purge them from the forest so we may live in peace without their senseless and ruthless way of harming the animals," I defended.

"That's called killing, love."

"I prefer…elimination for the greater good of the forest, Hikaru."

I leaned against the trunk of the tree, crossed my arms, and closed my eyes, ending all further possibilities of continuing the conversation the two of us had been having. Hikaru shifted on the branch, obviously becoming bored with the lack of doing anything. He sighed and I opened one eye, smirking at him.

A little bark came from the base of the tree, and I looked down to see a brown fox looking towards Hikaru. Raising an eyebrow at him, he gave me a pleading look and I could see the dislike in his eyes. The fox gave another little yip and scratched at the bark.

"Who's your friend, Hikaru?"

"Some female fox that saw me trotting through the woods as I tried to find you earlier. She hasn't let me out of her sight since. I tried throwing her off my trail and I thought I succeeded."

"So the shape-shifter has a mate now, does he?" I grinned.

"It's nothing of the sort!" blushed Hikaru.

Looking back down at the fox, I made an impatient '_shoo!_'' gesture and the female growled at me for a moment before trotting away, her ears flat against her head and her fur on end.

"What'd you do that for?"

"Well, since _you _couldn't get rid of her-"

"I did!" Hikaru protested. Then, quieter so I wouldn't hear, "...at first."

"You, Hikaru, are an idiot."

"Says the person who had a bullet lodged in their leg."

Hikaru grinned in satisfaction at having the last word while I just glowered, annoyed with his smart-aleck comments. On the other hand, he had been my friend ever since I left the forests of Mexico. Thinking of my past made me absentmindedly raise a hand to finger the locket and tear gem that still hung from a chain around my neck. When I saw Hikaru watching me, I pulled out the collar of my tunic and dropped the chain inside to hide it from view.

"Changing the subject, how did you end up in the forest neighboring a temple?"

"If you don't stop annoying me with your childish banter I may just accidentally consider you an intruder and turn my katana on you," I snarled, already on edge from thoughts about my childhood clouding my mind.

"Yes, ma'am."

Hikaru gave me his best salute, which actually ended up with him almost falling off the branch, and I rolled my eyes at his attempts to act strict. He knew that I would not harm him and he seemed to love pushing my limits to his full extent, which annoyed me beyond belief. He was used to my mood swings.

"Emerald-san! Emerald-san, are you here?"

Hikaru raised his eyebrows in surprise that I'd actually managed to be acquaintances with someone, which I nodded to and leaped down from the tree, landing in front of a startled Yukina. She stumbled backwards over a root, but before she fell over Hikaru was by her side and catching her in his arms.

"Th-thank you," she stuttered, both surprised she had not hit the ground and that this stranger had caught her so quickly. Yukina nervously stood on her feet and smoothed out her kimono, glancing nervously from me to Hikaru. Poor thing was confused.

"The pleasure is mine, my sweet. The name is Hikaru," he smiled, taking her hand in his and lightly kissing her knuckles.

I cleared my throat and Yukina immediately withdrew her hand from his, a blush turning her cheeks almost the same color as her eyes. For a moment she was silent until she suddenly remembered what she had come for, tearing her gaze away from my grinning friend and turning to me.

"We wanted to invite you back to the temple for lunch and tea. Genkai also offered to find you different clothes, her own act of gratitude for guarding her shrine," explained Yukina, bowing her head slightly to me. She eyed Hikaru and then gave a small smile. "I'm sure we can make room for you."

"Thank you," Hikaru replied.

Before either of them could get another word in I walked briskly past them and continued on to the temple with my back straight and strides quick. Even Hikaru I barely talked to, so these people deserved no more words out of me than he received. Yes, I owed them, but I would keep the chatting minimal to none.

Yukina and Hikaru talked behind me, about what I did not know because I was wrapped up in my own thoughts. It is amazing the things my mind will block out when it is so caught up in other things. It perturbed me that Hikaru could be so trusting to a person he had met no more than three minutes ago. My reaction to Yukina offering her lunch invitation did not surprise him though, for he knew by my eyes that my actions were harsher than my feelings.

I pushed aside a branch and before me was the temple. Without thinking I let it go and it hit something behind me with a muffled _thwap_. Hikaru gave a little yelp so it did not take much guesswork to know what the branch had come in contact with. I heard him curse in a different language and rolled my eyes at his loose tongue.

The wood scratched against the bottom of my feet as I walked up the three stairs and slid open the door to the temple, revealing the three women seated around a table on the floor. Kayko and Botan greeted me with smiles while Genkai just gave me a little nod, going back to sipping her herbal tea. Set on the middle of the table was a little plate of delicious-looking food.

Yukina immediately rushed over to a little bundle on the same cot I had been tended to on, the sheets new since I had soaked them with my blood. She picked it up in her hands and hurried back over to where I was unstrapping my katana from around my waist. I placed it gently against the wall before turning back around and having Yukina shove the item into my hands. Looking down at the fabric in my hands, I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Yukina gave me a little shove towards a room and told me to dress.

I unfolded the fabric and saw it to be a black kimono with an equally black sash. Though I had never worn one before it didn't take me very long to figure out how to put it on, the sleeves going to my knuckles and the bottom of the fabric going to a little below my ankles. The v-neck was minor and didn't go too much below my collarbone, and I made sure it didn't go much lower by tying the sash tightly. I thanked Genkai for picking a color that blended so well with the night. The clothes were easy for me to maneuver in and were much softer than my worn and rough tunic. All-in-all I was glad for the change.

When I walked out and into the main entrance room, I came upon the sight of Hikaru entertaining the three younger ladies while Genkai just sipped her tea. All of them were seated on top of cushions on the floor around a low table the sandwiches were perched on. Hikaru was in between Kayko and Botan, Yukina next to Kayko, and the three women giggled like young schoolgirls at almost everything he said. I wrinkled my nose at their foolish behavior and wondered how they could ever stoop to such a low level.

Coldly ignoring Hikaru, I took the only cushion left, which happened to be next to Genkai, and picked up a tea cup that was sitting on top of the table in front of me, taking a thirsty sip, deciding it tasted horrible, and placing it back on the tiny plate. I sent an unnoticed glare Hikaru's way and snatched a sushi roll and a rice ball and setting them on my own plate.

Satisfied with the improvement I contentedly bit into the rice ball, chewing off half of it in the process and swallowing it. Hikaru paused in his story-telling to watch me, his eyebrow raised. He picked up his own rice ball and took a much smaller bite than I had. I glared at his obvious disapproving of my table manners and shoved the other half into my mouth as well.

_Stupid youkai. Just because I haven't had a proper meal for awhile doesn't mean he has to embarrass me. _Chico estúpido.

I distractedly rubbed my thumb and forefinger together, the skin red and raw. When I had touched the gun the metal had singed my skin. My race was not able to interact with manmade things, which is why I preferred living in the forest to the city. The horrible smell of pollution always filled my senses when I went to the city, making me dizzy and choke on the air itself. My _katana_ was an exception for it had been made by one of my race and they were not exactly humans.

By accident I poked my nail into my thumb and yelped in pain. Immediately I stuck my thumb into my mouth and began sucking on it to numb the throbbing. It took me a few moments to realize everything had gone quiet. I hesitantly raised my eyes to see Hikaru smirking amusedly at me. A growl escaped my mouth and I plucked my thumb from my mouth, settling for wrapping it in my kimono instead.

"If you don't mind, I think I'll go outside," I announced.

Being around humans for the first time in awhile was making me nervous. I didn't know how to act and frankly, it was beginning to annoy me. Humans seemed to have so many rules about what was right and was wrong. As a child I was taught the basics of right and wrong, but other matters were left to the individual to figure out for themselves. For example, many people believed that stealing was something that would be categorized under 'bad'. To me stealing was how I'd lived for the past few weeks.

My bare feet padded quietly across the floor as I slid open the door and proceeded onto the deck after noiselessly closing it behind me. The fresh air felt good on my face and I welcomed the beautiful breeze that carried the scent of roses on it. Being cooped up in a building made me feel claustrophobic and trapped, something I had never had to feel before.

As I peered out in front of the temple, I noticed that stone stairs led from a walkway in front of the temple to a street down below. They started at a stone archway and continued on from there. Since I had nothing better to do, I figured that following them would be a pretty good start for an adventure. The dirt walkway felt good against my feet, the feeling well known to me. When I reached the stone, however, it bristled against my toes and made me recoil at first.

"_Mierda_!" I yelped, stumbling backwards in surprise.

A chuckle was heard behind me and I whipped my head around to see a golden hawk coming towards me. It stopped in midair beside me, stomach upright with the winds spread wide, and its features melted into that of a stunning woman. Two magnificent light brown bird wings were folded behind her back.

"Be careful, Emerald," laughed the maiden, her perfectly white teeth glittering in the sunlight.

"Hello, Braelyn," I muttered dully.

"Is that any way to talk to your guardian?"

The noise of the temple door being slid open came to both our ears and Braelyn's wings abruptly disappeared. The two of us turned our heads to see Hikaru poke his head out of the doorway, obviously looking for me. His eyes scanned the grassy area then came to rest on me. Hikaru's eyes flickered over to Braelyn and his face immediately lit up.

"Brae!" he cried, throwing the door open to its full extent and jogging down the stairs towards the two of us.

"Hikaru," she nodded. Her demeanor immediately became icy, for she didn't like my shape-shifter friend. She had it in her head that he was the cause of all my killings and stealing-sprees. She thought he was a bad influence on me. That and the fact that guardians are very protective of the ones they are guarding.

"_Idiota_! They might here you," I hissed at Hikaru.

He attempted to snake his arm around Braelyn's waist, but she deftly sidestepped and flickered out of sight to reappear right next to me. A smirk appeared on both our faces as we watched Hikaru's face fall. I was enjoying his despair because of how easily he trusted the four new women, and Braelyn merely disliked him. She turned to me and forced a smile.

"Well, I guess I should get going then. Just wanted to say hi," declared Braelyn. She summoned her wings again and yawned. As her arms stretched upwards her wings stretched as well, tucking behind her back once she was finished. She gave another final smile to me before her features once again melted into a golden hawk and she flapped away into the fading sun.

Hikaru watched her go and turned around to say something to me when he saw I wasn't there. He blinked a few times before shaking his head, cursing me in his native tongue, and trudging back into the temple. The reason I wasn't there when Hikaru turned to speak with me was because I had already begun walking down the stone steps, ignoring the prickling feeling I got every time my skin came in contact with it. A few seconds later the familiar golden hawk flitted out of the forest and landed on my shoulder.

"And where have you been?" I smirked.

"That _youkai _of yours is horrid! Always drooling over me all the time…"

A bark-like laugh escaped my throat at Braelyn's obvious disgust. She was like an older sister. An overprotective sister. My feelings of being siblings were usually the same towards Hikaru, but on a day like today I wasn't so sure how I felt about him. Braelyn let loose a little chuckle along with me and nibbled my ear playfully.

Along the stone stairs there were flat areas every twenty stairs about ten feet by ten feet. As I was stepping onto one of these landings a break in the trees to the left of me caught my eye and caused me to come to a stop. There in the trees was a little dirt path with branches hanging low over it and roots jutting haphazardly out of the ground in spots. A mischievous grin spread across my face and I changed my course of direction to instead follow the path.

I heard Braelyn sigh into my ear and shift her talons around on my shoulder. Though I couldn't see her, I knew at this moment she was settling herself for a nap. The movement stopped and I guessed that she had found a comfortable position. I lifted a branch that was in my way over my head with one hand and let it drop down behind me as I proceeded farther into the forest.

Impatient to see what lay ahead I picked up my pace to a brisk walk. Another branch got in my way and I anxiously jumped on top of it, and then hopped off onto the other side. With a sigh of irritableness I picked up my pace to a sprint and Braelyn awoke with a particularly loud squawk.

"We do have all day!" she shouted. I winced, since her voice was directly next to my ear, and broke into a full out run. The trees whipped past me at an incredible speed, the path empty of branches as far as I could see in.

"The sun is setting and I would like to get back before dark," I argued.

Braelyn ruffled her feathers and dug her claws tighter into the cloth of my _kimono_, an obvious sign that she was not pleased but would let it go all the same. A branch suddenly came out of no where and I leaned backwards and slid underneath. Braelyn yelped and jumped off my shoulder, settling for flying over my head instead. Her wings barely fit in the width of the small path, but she was the best flyer I had ever seen and didn't doubt her skills.

The sun was setting and the path was dark, making it hard for me to see what lay ahead. In my haste to come to the end, I forgot to pay attention to the path itself and my foot made contact with a root jutting out of the ground. I let loose a surprised yelp and tumbled a few times. When I got my senses about me, I sat up and saw, much to my delight, that I was now out of the forest and sitting upon a hill. The hill overlooked a town, outlined in orange from the fading light. Beyond that, in the distance and barely visible, were mountains that still wore snow-capped peaks while the ground below it was drenched in warmth. The sight of the town made me wrinkle my nose in disgust, but the beautiful mountains made up for the pollution. All in all the whole scene made one of my rare smiles appear.

_"Papa!" grinned the little girl. Her espresso-colored hair was tied in a braid going down to her mid back. Her skin was tanned from being outside whenever possible as well as her heritage and her cheeks were tinted with pink from playing a game with her friends._

_A weary yet handsome man emerged from the forest, his silky black hair pulled into a ponytail to rest between his shoulder blades. His chocolate-colored eyes came to land on the child calling to him, a tired smile appearing on his face. A katana was strapped to his waist and blood spattered his roughly-made kimono. Five men adorned in the same outfits appeared behind him looking just as drained. They sported the blood on their kimonos as well, some of it coming from the minor injuries across their body._

_"Hello, _mija_," greeted the man, kneeling on one knee as the girl ran to him and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck. She buried her head into the crook of his neck and squealed in excitement. Other children were greeting their fathers in the same fashion, some of the older ones letting a few happy tears fall._

_"I am so happy you are back, Papa! We had much fun, but not as much fun as when you are here. Emilio ate a worm because Esperanza told him to. I think he kind of likes her. Mama was quiet as usual when you are gone, but I bet she will be very happy to know you are back. Stay here and let me go tell her. It will be a surprise!"_

_Without even listening to what her father had to say, the child peeled herself away from him and skipped to a dirt hut that was in the center of the village. She poked her head through the doorway to see her mother cooking dinner over a fire with her back to the child, the smoke escaping through a tiny chimney in the ceiling. Slices of papaya were speared onto a stick that rested across two other sticks set firmly into the ground, the woman slowly rotating the papaya stick. Her ebony hair was put up into a messy bun with a whittled stick about five inches in length keeping it in place. A simple brown dress clung to her petite figure and her bare feet shuffled on the dirt floor. She wiped a hand over her forehead and, sensing someone watching her, turned around while wiping her hands on her dress. Enchanting emerald eyes gazed at the doorway where the child's head was visible._

_"Emerald, you know you are to stay out while I cook," scolded the woman._

_"Mama, I have a surprise for you," grinned Emerald, ignoring the remark and rushing into the house to stand before her mother. She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet excitedly before grabbing her mother's hand and rushing out of the house. Her mother laughed in confusion and tried to slow down her daughter's pace, wondering what all the rush could be for._

_"Where are we going, _mija_?"_

_"You would know if you were going faster," pouted Emerald._

_The woman let loose another cheery laugh and rolled her eyes playfully, causing Emerald to stick out her tongue. She pulled on her mother's hand once more and weaved around another grass hut to reveal her father with his back to them. He was talking to a man with short hair so black that it looked to be shimmering blue in the sunlight and a thick moustache. They were talking animatedly to each other with their arms crossed. Emerald could not see her father's face, but the other man's brow was wrinkled in grief._

_"The hunters are becoming greater in numbers. Soon we will have more casualties. Losing Paco was one loss too many. I still do not know how I shall tell his wife and son. He was one of our best men and I will greatly miss him," said the moustache-man seriously._

_"_Si_, Pedro. He will forever be remembered in this village."_

_"Antonio?" breathed the woman. Emerald's father turned around with a solemn expression on his face and then his lips parted at the surprise of seeing his wife. The child smiled to herself, letting go of her mother's hand and stepping off to the side._

_"Lola…" he whispered._

_His words brought her out of the daze she was in and she ran forward into his outstretched arms. Antonio lifted his wife's feet off of the ground in a firm hug, both wracked with dry sobs. When Antonio placed Lola back on the ground, his strong arms wrapped around her waist lovingly and his head rest upon hers. Lola had her ear pressed against his chest with her hands clutching the front of his kimono, eyes closed peacefully like her husband's. He removed one of his hands from her back to tilt her chin towards him. Her eyes opened slightly and they smiled at each other, looking like two young sweethearts. Antonio touched his lips to hers and resumed hugging his wife to him once more._

_Emerald saw her friend, Tucker, looking into the woods with a blank expression on his face. A few tear gems lay dejectedly at his feet. Children around him were laughing and cheering with joy that their fathers had returned safe to them. Another tear fell from his eye before he turned on his heel and ran into the depths of the village, not looking back once. The child frowned and realized that it was her friend's father that had perished in the fight with the hunters. She would comfort him later, but right now her father was finally home._

_"_Mija!_ Little one! Come here!" called Antonio._

_She ran happily over to them and her parents enveloped her into a hug as their joyous laughter rang throughout the clearing. They were together and happy. For now._

I sighed at the best-forgotten memory and lay on my back with my arm behind my head. The other arm was thrown carelessly over my torso and my left leg was stretched out on the ground, the other one bent at the knee. I gazed sadly into the pink sky as the stars became to appear. Another sigh escaped my lips, for I knew I should get indoors before the moon appeared. A cool wind rustled the trees in a domino effect, some of them creaking in protest to the disturbance in their forest. It rippled the grass, looking like a jade ocean in a slight storm. A human Braelyn lay down beside me and clasped both hands on her stomach. She turned her head to me and opened her mouth to provide words of comfort, but I abruptly cut her off.

"I don't need, nor do I want, your sympathy."

A scowl crossed my face as I saw her close her mouth, eyes giving away that she was hurt by my cold statement. Though the sign of misery should have caused me to feel the tiniest bit of regret, I felt nothing but anger at her showing weakness. Weakness was a thing I didn't know of. Weakness had no place in the world. How could she be sad when she had suffered nothing in her life? Her life had been filled with happiness and joy, completely opposite of mine. I had been taught over years of experience that the world was a cruel place, and being cruel back was the only way to survive. She was silent. I was silent.

Silence was awkward.

Owls hooted in the forest high in the treetops. The sound of nature made me sigh and close my eyes in peace. For a few seconds I proceeded to listen to the hoots until I realized there was something wrong with them. They were too loud, too long, too frequent for them to belong to the actual creature. Immediately, I knew who was making the incessant noises. A smirk crossed my lips and I cupped my hands around my mouth, letting loose a shrill hoot of my own. Soft rustles were heard in the forest and then everything was silent once more.

"Lady Theda?" questioned a female voice curiously.

"It does depend on who is asking..."

I glanced to my side lazily to see that Braelyn had disappeared, something that had become natural for her when one of my people came looking for me. Rolling my eyes at her shyness, I lifted my feet into the air and threw them back towards the ground; the effect being that my upper body was lifted into the air and I was now standing on my feet, brushing the dirt off my new kimono. Crossing my arms against a cool breeze, I turned to see who the speakers were.

Two women stood side-by-side in matching raven ninja outfits. Twin daggers were strapped to both of their waists, the fading sunlight glimmering off each one of them quite effectively. Both had a cloth tied across the lower half of their face, covering their nose and mouth. They had their hands up to their foreheads in a proper salute, eyes staring straight ahead.

"At ease," I smirked.

They brought their hands to their sides almost at once and let their shoulders sag considerably. The one on the right pulled the cloth down off her face with one hand at the same time as the one on the left did. Identical mischievous grins were placed upon their thin mouths, ones that never seemed to leave their faces.

"My sister and I think you need a break, Gen'ral," said the one on the right, her grin widening considerably as her and her sibling exchanged glances. The one that spoke had silvery-blue hair up in a high ponytail that stopped right at her shoulders, practically glowing in the sunset's magical light. The other woman bore the same silvery-blue hair, though hers was cut in a boyish style with bangs that swept to one side of her face. Both possessed the same unusual pale orange eyes, eyes that never seemed to stop twinkling with amusement.

"General? Since when did you start calling Lady Theda that, December?" questioned the one that had kept quiet all this time, a playful grin playing across her lips. She brushed a strand of short hair out of her entrancing eyes and turned her gaze back to her superior.

"I said "Gen'ral", Destiny, not General. You're adding an "e" to it," shot back December, rolling her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She seemingly remembered what she came for and said to me, "We all miss you, you know."

"What has it been? One? Two weeks since you left the Makai to come live here and train instead of traveling back and forth like normal people do? We're all starting to get worried about you working yourself to the point of a mental breakdown. Some people consider that something they _want_ to avoid," ended Destiny sarcastically.

"You're a good enough-"

"-fighter as it is."

"And can already beat-"

"-the rest of us a hundred times over."

My eyes darted back from one to the other as they spoke, an amused smirk growing wider on my face with every word. They both opened their mouths simultaneously to continue their rant when I held up a hand to prevent them from rambling on once more. Lowering it, I crossed my arms in front of me and surveyed them for a moment. They were right, as usual. I really should go back to my village and see how my people were doing. They needed me just as much as I needed to train. Possibly more. And besides, I was looking forward to seeing a few people in general.

"I guess it would be alright..."

"YES!" both women screeched.

"...but only for a day or two," I finished firmly.

Both smiles involuntarily dropped off their faces and the effect was of two puppies with their tails between their legs. They knew better then to question my decisions and remained silent. To lighten the mood they plastered smiles on both their faces and nodded. With a wave of their hands, a light blue swirling vortex appeared beneath our feet and we all fell through. The feeling of falling and spinning made my stomach lurch unpleasantly. When I thought I was finally going to empty the contents of my stomach, the sensation vanished and my feet hit solid ground.

Opening my eyes hesitantly, I was met with the sight of a town with stone buildings and cobble streets in the midst of a great valley. It was an exceptionally tiny town, but the people were happy all the same. Vines crept up the walls of the houses and the large bell and clock tower in the very center. Townspeople had set up stands outside buildings with fresh crops on their tables, grown in their very own fields for the mineral-enriched soil produced the most delicious foods I had ever known. The twins watched with those identical grins as my eyes sparkled in pleasure. The bright sun shone happily over head, the warmth comforting me. Time passed differently in the Makai than the Ningenkai.

"Mama?" called a voice.

I turned nonchalantly around and my face broke into one of those rare smiles as my eyes landed on the person who had called to me.


	4. My Daughter

**Chapter Three**

**  
**That innocent voice. Music to my ears I could even go so far to call it. At the same time it's a sound that makes my stomach sink and tears build up in my eyes. It's amazing that something so joyous could be so heart-wrenching. Only a select few know why I have the mixed reactions.

"_Hola_, Adoncia," I smiled softly.

The small child giggled and ran over to me, throwing her arms around my legs and hugging them tight. Her black hair was pulled into a bun, bangs and pieces of hair falling precariously into her face. Flowers were placed in her hair, probably picked from the fields. She was donned in a ruby kimono that bore flower patterns around the cuffs. A shimmering ribbon held the kimono closed, coming together in a bow at her back. I placed a hand on her head and smiled again as her black eyes gazed up at me.

"I missed you, Mommy," she said in Spanish, grinning up at me.  
_  
_She knew only Spanish; I had raised her that way. I vowed that she would never speak Japanese – her father's language. Her father. Just the memory of him made me want to break down and cry. After I met him, whenever I was forced to speak Japanese, the words came out bitterly as if there was a bad taste in my mouth. He had left me right after he had had his way with me. That's how Adoncia, fondly known as Addie around the town, came into being when I was sixteen. A foolish teenager.

That must've meant she was eight.

Eight years I spent caring for that child. My child. She had inherited her father's black hair and eyes, but she had my tiny nose and little ears. A rosy tint always spilt over her cheeks, giving her the look of someone who's just run through the woods on a cold winter day. It's amazing how something so horrible created something so beautiful.

"I missed you, too," I whispered, also in Spanish.  
_  
_She relinquished her death grip on my legs and backed away a few steps, eyes shining, and began bouncing on the balls of her feet. I smirked and crossed my arms playfully. I realized for the first time the bow clasped in her hand and the arrow bag filled with gleaming arrows slung over her shoulder. I quirked an eyebrow and Adoncia followed my gaze to the items.

"I've been practicing like you told me to!" she exclaimed happily. I could practically feel myself swell in pride at her words. I felt like shouting to anyone who would listen that this was my daughter, that she was a learned fighter and becoming better every day.

"I don't understand a word-"

"-they're saying."

"I want to be able-"

"-to speak Spanish."

December and Destiny sighed dramatically simultaneously, and then smiled when my daughter practically bulldozed them in a hug. A squeal escaped her lips and the twins bent down together to wrap her in their arms. The three were amazing friends, though they could never understand each other. Usually I acted as their own personal interpreter.

"You're going to become a better fighter than we are pretty soon, you know," noted Destiny happily, wagging a finger playfully in Adoncia's face. My child nodded enthusiastically, not having a clue what they were saying, and threw her arms around them once more.

"You should learn to speak Spanish," scolded Adoncia, this time pointing her finger accusingly in Destiny's face, who had to go cross-eyed to see it.

"You're a beautiful one, you are," grinned December, not having any clue what Adoncia had just said to her.

"So is this one," said a voice not far behind me.

Before I had a chance to turn around, I was lifted by my waist and spun playfully around. I let out a surprised shriek then leaped away from the person after they vanquished their grip on me. I lifted my hand, prepared to strike the stranger, and then lowered my fist again when I realized who it was.

"You wouldn't hurt me now, would you? Did you forget who I am already? Does the name Ethan ring any bells?" joked the stranger, hands shoved into their pant's pockets and a mischievous glint in his pale blue eyes. His strikingly blue hair fell lazily into his eyes, giving him a rather mysterious look.

"I'm sorry sir, but do I know you?" I asked casually. I forfeited the defense stance and pretended to brush dirt off my kimono. Ethan's scowled.

"She got you good there," chuckled another man, coming up beside Ethan and laying a hand on his shoulder. The man turned his amber eyes to me and smiled. His skin was tanned naturally from his cultural background, as was mine, and he had wine-colored hair that came to his shoulders. It got shorter as it got closer to the front, which most ladies found appealing. He too had bangs, though they were swept to either side of his face.

"_Hola_, Sonjay."

"Oh, but you remember him?" teased Ethan.

"Ford is around here somewhere. We saw him with Flo practicing fighting techniques earlier. That last battle was hard on them. It was hard on all of us," ended Sonjay sadly. He shoved his hands on his pant's pockets like Ethan and turned his gaze to the ground.

Into my mind came the image of the brother and sister. Ford, the older brother who was no older than me, was a vivacious character who never took 'no' as an answer. His goal in life seemed to be to bring laughter in people's lives even when there was none. His hair, a crimson color as lively as his personality, always seemed to be falling into his darker red eyes. Flo, a young child two years older than Adoncia, was Ford's half-sister, to be correct. His mother had died when he was young and his father had remarried. Flo had the same strikingly bright cherry eyes, though her hair was paler than her brother's and was always in a high ponytail, scattered bangs falling into her eyes. Her attitude was fiery, completely opposite of her brother. I wasn't sure if there were a closer pair of siblings than them.

"What have you been doing while I've been gone?" I questioned, trying to force the thoughts of our last battle out of my mind. I felt that the single casualty we had was my fault, though everyone told me different. Liars.

"The usual," shrugged Ethan. "Nothing ever happens when you're not here."

"How would you know? You're always asleep!" retorted Sonjay, rolling his eyes. Ethan took his hands out of his pockets and punched his friend in the shoulder.

"How is Nixie, Sonjay?" I smirked.

A blush crept onto Sonjay's face as he mumbled, "Good."

"More than good," grinned Ethan. It was Sonjay's turn to punch his friend, though this time it was a little harder. Ethan broke out into laughter and crossed his arms across his broad chest. He winked and said to me, "So are you, Gen'ral."

"Aha! See! He says "Gen'ral", too!" exclaimed December.

Destiny rolled her eyes and said to Adoncia, "December is an odd one, she is."

"Like I know what you're saying," replied Adoncia, mimicking Destiny and rolling her eyes. I couldn't help but break a grin at my daughter's sarcastic humor. She was smarter than some of my best soldiers at times.

"Lady Theda!" squealed a voice not far to my left. All of us turned simultaneously to see who had called out to me. I smirked and felt my eyes widen as the female made no attempt to slow down her sprint towards me. Her body slammed into mine in an excited hug and we both toppled over onto the ground.

"Ah, uh, _hola_ Nixie…" I greeted hesitantly.

The exuberant water pixie leapt off me and then held a hand out to me. I took it and then proceeded to brush my kimono off for probably the third time today. The woman who stood before me began bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly, reminding me of my daughter. She was short, only about 4'11", but she could be ferocious when she wanted to be. Her light blue hair went to her shoulders and bangs fell over her equally amazing blue eyes. Her pointy elf-like ears stuck out of her hair, ears she was very sensitive about.

"I'm so glad you're back!"

"I am, too."

And I meant it. This town was the second best thing that had ever happened to me, the inhabitants of the town being the first. Unfortunately, there were some things that the safe life of the town couldn't protect me from. Adoncia's father being one of them.

"Don't maul her yet, honey. She just got back," scolded Sonjay lovingly.

"Now you listen to me," retorted Nixie, walking up to her husband, who practically towered over her. She poked his chest with a slender finger and continued, "You listen to me. I'll break her of that serious mood if it's the last thing I do. You hear?"

Sonjay backed off nervously with his hands raised. The fact that he was scared of his petite wife was quite amusing. I smirked at her words because I knew that whatever she set her mind to, she got. The water pixie had even playfully blackmailed Sonjay into marrying her when they were dating, sending him a ransom note saying that if he ever wanted his twin crescent blades back then he was going to buy her a nice ring and propose. Thing was, Sonjay didn't need to buy a ring for he had already bought one weeks before, planning on proposing to her for the longest time, just not knowing how to go about it. He saw it as the perfect opportunity. The wedding was amazing and they've been happily married for six months.

"Mommy, why is Uncle Sonjay afraid of Aunt Nixie?" shouted Adoncia, trying to be heard over everyone else's voices. The laughter swelled in my throat, but I forced it back down. I haven't laughed in the longest time and I wasn't planning on starting either. I did let a smirk appear, however. My daughter had begun calling close friends of mine Aunt and Uncle since as long as I can remember.

"It is one of the many mysteries of life," I replied.She giggled in response and covered her mouth with her hand to try and stifle it. Everyone blinked in confusion, not knowing what we were saying.

"Hey, I heard my name in there. Are you making fun of me?" asked Sonjay warily. He looked back and forth between the two of us and crossed his arms, trying to look intimidating.

"He's funny," grinned Adoncia, pointing a finger at Sonjay.  
_  
_I snorted, trying to contain my laughter, and watched as Sonjay regarded my child with suspicion. He uncrossed his arms and crept silently behind Adoncia, who had long since doubled over in laughter with tears pouring out of her eyes. Sonjay put a finger to his lips to signal everyone to be quiet and then picked up Adoncia by her waist. She squealed in surprise as he put her on his shoulders and ran away from the group.

"Funny! Funny!" came the hysterical giggles of my child. They eventually faded away and I could only hope that Sonjay would take care of her.

I was protective of Adoncia in a way most people would call obsessive. I don't know what possessed me to become like this. The only people I trusted to be alone with her were Sonjay, December and Destiny (a.k.a. the two Dess's), Nixie, Ethan, and Ford. If anyone else dared to touch her my motherly instincts shone through and I made sure they wouldn't ever do it again.

One time I even killed someone.

_Adoncia lay beside me in my bed, scared to be alone in her own. Her tiny five-year-old body barely took up any space, so I was perfectly comfortable. I hummed a tune softly to soothe her, stroking her hair, and watched as her breathing slowed sleepily. The moonlight failed to shine into the bedroom through a window for I had covered them with a black cloth._

_I had never seen the moon before, and I couldn't help wonder what it looked like. I had heard so many things about this massive wonder. My people were unable to walk about at night. Maybe I could, though. Maybe I could suffer its rage._

_Quietly, I lifted the bed sheets off of my evening clothed body and touched one foot to the stone floor, then the other. At first I recoiled at the cool feel, silently cursing the fire that had long since burned out in the center of the room. I lay my feet on the stone so they could familiarize themselves with the temperature. After a few tedious seconds they adjusted and I was able to support my weight on them._

_I sighed in content then slowly made my way over to the covered window. Standing before it, I nervously wrung my hands – something I hadn't done in the longest time. A white ray shone through the edge of the window, a place I wasn't able to cover. Instead of opening the curtain all the way, it would be safer for me to just put my hand in front of the ray. That way I would know if it might be harmless or not. Yes, I would do that._

_Cautiously, I reached a single hand out to wave it before the ray. I passed it over the light as quickly as possible and then clutched my hand to myself. Save for an unpleasant tingling beneath the surface of my skin, feeling as though millions of tiny spiders were crawling underneath, there was no physical injury. Had I done it too quick? Did the moon's glow not have enough time to react with my skin?_

_Again I stretched my hand out to place it before the ray. This time, instead of passing it over, I held it there. There my flesh was, exposed to the moonlight, and nothing was happening! I grinned in childish glee then screamed when burns began to appear on my hand, stinging worse than a third degree burn ever could. I withdrew my hand and fell to my knees, clutching my injury close to myself. A whimper passed over my lips at the pain I was feeling. Such pain._

_Adoncia stirred, but didn't wake. I was glad she was a heavy sleeper._

_I lifted my hand up so I could evaluate the extent of the burns, then sighed in relief when I noticed it was already starting to heal. Before my eyes the burns were being covered in new flesh, faint traces of scars apparent if you strained to see them. Slowly I gained my footing and crawled into my bed, trying to warm myself. I would never try that again. Not ever._

_The next morning I awoke sleepily and rolled over. I froze. Adoncia's body was small, sure, but not small enough for me not to make contact with her when my limbs were all over the place. My eyes opened wide in panic and I bolted out of my bed, running through the house for any sign of my child._

_"Adoncia? Adoncia!_ Dónde está usted, el Niño?" _I screamed hysterically._ Where are you, Child? _The thought that someone had taken her from me coursed through my mind and I became filled with rage._

_A growl escaped my throat, echoing through my house eerily. Not any kind of growl, either -_ my _kind's growl. If you have never heard one of my kind emit that noise, then I will explain it to you in simple terms. It sounds much like a female lion when she's trying to defend her cubs from the new alpha male. It's a frightening noise, to say the least._

_I stripped off my nightwear and threw on my simple brown tunic. My eyes wandered angrily yet calmly around the room until they landed on my father's katana. I snatched it up and then stormed through the front door to my house, the door hitting the side of my house loudly in the process._

_The villagers watched in fear as I walked up to a random person, not remembering their name in my moment of rage, and lifted him by the throat. His scared eyes gazed fearfully into my own frighteningly calm ones. His fox ears were drooping and his tail flicked behind him nervously. The hand I had around his neck tightened and his own hands flew to my hand, trying to get me to relinquish my grasp._

_"Where is my daughter?"_

_"Sh-she's in the field wi-with Jeai, Lady Theda," he gasped._

_I growled, this time a human one, and dropped him unceremoniously in a heap onto the ground. He clutched his throat and gasped for breath, his lungs grasping for the oxygen he so desperately needed._

_I turned on my heel and walked briskly throughout the town, knowing exactly where I was going. I stopped suddenly and looked up at the building I had paused next to. Without a second thought I bent my knees and jumped the thirty feet easy, landing delicately on the roof. Turning in a circle to gather my surroundings, I grabbed the handle of the katana that was strapped around my waist. I held the handle firm as I bent my knees once more and jumped over a building and landed on the one after it. I repeated this a few times until I came to the last building, which overlooked a stretch of land covered in grass and various varieties of wild flowers._

_My cold eyes landed on two figures, one being my daughter and the other apparently being Jeai. I narrowed my eyes and then jumped to the ground as light as a cat approximately twenty yards from them. Jeai looked up from my giggling daughter, and I watched in satisfaction as his laughing face changed to a horrified one in .02 seconds flat._

_"I thought you knew the rules."_

_"I forgot, Lady Theda, I forgot," pleaded Jeai._

_"You forgot?" I snarled. "You forgot?"_

_"Please-"_

_"Leave here, Adoncia," I interrupted, not removing my gaze from the pitiful excuse of a demon before me.She froze in fear, not knowing this side of me. "Leave here, Adoncia!"_

_I let loose a true growl and she backed up a few steps in surprise before sprinting past me with tears streaming down her face. I would apologize more times than she could count later, but right now I was executing business and intent on continuing it._

_"Please, My Lady," begged Jeai, falling to his knees as I slowly began to move forward._

_"I told you the rules. You disobeyed them. You will be punished."_

_Tears streamed down his cheeks, his misery feeding the beast within me. Something inside me pleaded with my angry side that this was wrong, but my fury was increasing in size and wouldn't listen to any reason at this moment. I don't think, at this point, I would spare him even if he had a family waiting for him within the village. I was so intent to show this man that if you disobey the rules, you pay, that I blocked out any rational thoughts I might have had._

_I unsheathed my katana slowly, the sun glimmering off the pure blade. I took another step and felt a pang of sympathy at the distress of this man. It was gone as soon as it had come when I thought about what might have happened if he let my child out of his sight for more than a few moments. She might have wandered off and died of hunger for all I knew. I would make sure that would never happen again._

_"Please..."_

_"No."_

_And with one swift movement my blade met his chest._

I crossed my arms and turned my gaze to the ground at the thought of the memory, my normally impassive face scowling. That memory wasn't a happy one for me. I vowed, after killing Jeai, that I would never let my anger get the better of me again. I have become angry since then, sure, but I have never let it control me like it had then. It's a horrible thing to live with.

"You okay, Emerald?" whispered Ethan in my ear, bringing me out of my day dreams. It was an unusual thing to catch me off guard and he just had. I could see the worry in his eyes.

"Fine," I mumbled.

"Aye, sure, Gen'ral. The others have left to find Sonjay and Addie already. They think they're at the bar."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

I broke my staring contest with him and turned down the street. The bar was no more than a few blocks away. I knew Ethan had seen the pain in my eyes. I had shown weakness in front of him and he knew it. I hated showing my internal turmoil so clearly. I hated emotions in general. I personally didn't see the purpose of them. I might have once, but not anymore.

But didn't I love my daughter? That was an emotion, wasn't it? No, I didn't love her. I've never loved her. I just felt it was my duty to protect her since I was the one who brought her into this world, however unwilling I was to do it. I rubbed my temples as my heart scoffed at my brain's harsh words. Deep down inside I knew my words were empty of truth.

Damn, I was going soft.

A hand lightly touched my shoulder and I spun around, grasping for the katana that _should_ be around my waist. It was a few seconds before I realized that, one, my katana was leaning against the wall of the temple back in the Ningenkai and, two, the person who had come up behind me was not an enemy, but Ethan. I swore loudly when the reality of reason number one came back with a biting sting.

"_Mierda_," I growled.

"Mi...what?" asked Ethan, scratching his head in confusion.

"I left my katana back in the Ningenkai! I'm lucky that at least I still have my dagger," I snarled, turning on my heel angrily and heading towards the bar to catch a bite to eat and find my daughter. Ethan caught up to me and walked silently beside me with his hands buried in his pockets, listening to me mutter every Spanish curse that came to mind.


	5. To Crave

**Chapter Four**

**  
**"Wake her up."

"Vhy dohn't you vake 'er up?"

"Because I would personally like to keep my balls attached to the rest of my body."

"Zen zhere's my reason."

"I think you both should be quiet unless you want to be castrated," chuckled the third person in the room

I clutched my bed sheets in my fists and opened my eyes, annoyed as to the manner in having been woken up. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before because after Ethan and I had reached the bar, I was interrogated enough much about my trip to the Ningenkai my head started to hurt. Luckily for Adoncia, she slipped out in search of Flo and spent the night with her instead of waiting for my people to finish grilling me. Now, I was being woken by my own soldiers. I could tell that wasn't the beginning of a good day.

"I'm already up," I growled, turning my head to glare at the three men standing in my bedroom doorway. They gave me sheepish smiles in return. Two of them I recognized from yesterday, Ethan and Sonjay, while the other I hadn't seen for quite awhile. The other was Ford, speaking with his thick German accent. Flo didn't have an accent.

"Sorry," grinned Ethan.

I narrowed my eyes and sat up in bed, running a hand through my loose hair. It spiraled on the bed around me and I glared at it too, cursing it for being too long. I really needed to get it cut. I let out an exasperated sigh and flickered over to where Sonjay, Ford, and Ethan were standing. They all jumped about five feet in the air.

"_Ach mein Gott!_" screeched Ford, putting a hand over his thumping heart. "Ve reelly haff to get used to 'er doin' zis."

Sonjay panted his agreement.

I stretched in my nightgown, the white silk sliding over my stomach as I did so, and raised an eyebrow at the men. I pointed my finger at the door and watched as each one walked out of the room, dragging their feet like little children as they did so. How annoying.

When I was sure they were gone I pulled out the drawer to my dresser and dug around inside of it for something to wear. Unfortunately, I didn't own many clothes and they were all getting a bit too small for me around the chest. I scowled and shoved the drawer back into place with a bang. I stood, looking for something comfortable to wear, and my eyes landed on the black kimono I had received from Genkai. My thoughts drifted towards the four women as I changed.

I would have to return to them no later than this afternoon, I knew. They must've realized I was gone already and having them suspicious of me wasn't the greatest thing in the world either. Then something odd spoke out in my mind. When I had arrived at their temple, wounded and then killing two people, why had they not reacted like normal mortals usually do? Humans didn't just calmly invite someone into their shelter after witnessing them commit murder. The only explanation I could come up with for their behavior made me seriously wonder what lives these women lead.

They were used to things like this happening.

It definitely was something odd. After all, how could normal humans like that be used to the violence I had revealed to them? They didn't appear to be criminals, which would be one reason why they had reacted like they did. I'd heard all the things about how people aren't always what they appear to be and how I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but Yukina was seriously innocent. People can't just put up a charade like that, it has to be the real personality of someone.

Something pulled taught around my waist and I started in surprise. When I looked down I saw I had tied the sash of the kimono without even realizing it. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, trying to convince myself I wasn't going paranoid. That wasn't something I felt like dealing with at the moment.

Unfortunately for me the only thing that happened was my headache got worse. I squeezed my eyelids together tighter, pressing my fists into my eyes. A true growl escaped my throat, fading into a groan of pain as my headache intensified. I just wanted it to stop.

Then all of the sudden it did. Just stopped. I took in some deep breaths, my head still pulsing annoyingly from the leftover pain, and grabbed my dresser for the much needed support. My eyes hesitantly opened and I realized why I was feeling like this.

I needed to feed.

I also realized that if I needed to feed, Adoncia probably needed to too, only her cravings would be worse, much less controlled. She still hadn't learned enough to contain herself. That wasn't good, for she would do anything if she got too hungry. I needed to get to Flo before something horrible happened to her.

Since I was too tired from the headache experience and I wasn't sure where they were, I couldn't teleport to where my daughter was. That was even worse, because now it would take me more time to find them. If I was to prevent a disaster from happening I needed to hurry. My feet grew a life of their own as they padded quietly and quickly over to the door of my bedroom, intent on dragging the upper half of my body with them.

I turned two corners before I reached the wooden front door to my house and rammed into it with my shoulder, not missing a beat. Though my shoulder pinged in minor pain, I ignored it, realizing that if I didn't hurry, I would crave again – this time possibly worse than the last.

Panicking as I sniffed the air intently, I caught my child's scent not far from where I was. I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding and jumped onto the roof of my house so I could get a clearer view of the surrounding town. I turned my eyes to the distant field and saw two small figures running around. Either they were playing some harmless game or…

No. That wasn't the time to think about "what if's". I jumped over two neighboring roofs to land on the one after them, my knees bending expertly so my legs wouldn't break on impact. A jolt ran through my body, but I'd gone through worse landings than that. I sniffed again, bent my knees, and rocketed up and over three buildings. This time I ran across the rooftops, only jumping when I needed to cross the gaps between them. I needed to take it easy because I knew that as my energy level depleted my cravings grew.

Before I realized what was happening I was leaping off another building and flying towards nothing. My instincts kicked in and I leaned back slightly, trying to come at the ground at an angle so the impact would be less. I must've calculated correctly for I landed without so much as a sound and continued running towards my daughter's scent. Images of what she was capable of doing and had done to people in the past came into mind and I ran faster, ignoring the headache that was slowly starting to come back.

I barreled into my child just as she was leaping at her friend.

Flo scrambled backwards across the ground, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the blood coming out of a gash on her cheek. She must've fallen and cut herself, the smell causing Adoncia's senses to go crazy. My child thrashed angrily in my arms as we sat on the ground, trying to fight both our instincts to drink the blood that flowed through Flo's veins and out of the opening in her skin. Fortunately for Flo, I was stronger than my daughter and could control myself better.

"Go get help. Now," I snarled, biting my lip in pain as my daughter scratched my arms angrily, leaving little scratches that healed over almost immediately. The marks went away, but the sensation still held.

The child hesitated, her own instincts kicking in and telling her that if she didn't move Adoncia wouldn't see her, that she could blend in with the surrounding grass and everything would be okay. I knew that wouldn't happen because Adoncia had her scent and could track her from as much as a mile away if she wanted to and, judging by the ferocity in which she was clawing at my arms, she did.. Flo must've sensed the urgency in my voice, something that was almost never heard unless it was important, for the reason that she wobbled uneasily onto her feet and sprinted towards the town. When I couldn't see her anymore I listened for her desperate pleas for help, just barely able to hear it over my daughter's snarls.

"Fight it! Fight it, Adoncia!" I shouted in Spanish, hysteria seeping into my voice as I whipped her around to face me and hold her firmly by the shoulders.

The sight that met me was one I was no stranger to, but that I always dreaded to see again. My daughter's hair was out of its common bun and fell across her face and tumbled over her thin, shaking shoulders. Her eyes, usually an entrancing coal black, were entirely crimson, even the whites. Her canines had grown to about an inch in size, sharper than a knife and just as deadly as one.

She longed for blood, and I knew it.

"Sweetheart, please. _Please_," I pleaded, shaking her shoulders roughly and hoping I would get some reaction out of her. The only thing that happened was she struggled even harder in my grip, letting loose the same kind of lion's growl I emitted at times. I hoped help would come soon because Adoncia was strong for a child her age and I was tiring quickly, falling into my own cravings.

Simultaneously, we doubled over and clutched our heads, screaming in pain and agony. My head was being ripped open, I knew it. There could be no other explanation for the sensation that had taken over. I had long since relinquished my grip on Adoncia, too wrought with pain to hold her. Our screams filled the air around us, a few true growls intermingling with them when the pain dulled.

The sensation died down along with our cries of agony, leaving us lying pathetically on the ground panting for breath. My eyes were closed and I knew I didn't have the strength to open them, let alone restrain my daughter if she worked up the energy to go feed on the townspeople. It was a rare moment in my life where I felt completely helpless against the things to come. Adoncia whimpered not far from me and I cursed myself for not taking her feeding sooner, for being irresponsible.

For not being the parent I should be.

Sounds met my ears as I slipped into a world on the brink of consciousness and passing out. Somewhere in my mind the word _footsteps _came through. The vibrations stopped as they got closer and my ears picked up louder noises. Voices. Though my face didn't have the strength to smile, mentally I was thanking everything around me for the help that had finally come.

My head was lifted and placed on something soft as inaudible voices murmured all around me. A glass reached my partially opened lips and I drank thirstily as the familiar warm liquid slid down my parched throat. Mortals always wrote in books about blood tasting metallic, but that was because their tongues didn't contain the same taste buds Adoncia and I were born with. To us blood tasted like the nectar of life, which was ironic considering we were both technically dead.

Fingers brushed hair out of my face and my eyes flittered open, deep breaths of relief racking my sore body. I slowly turned my head to the right and I saw my daughter lying on someone's lap, the warm crimson liquid still trickling down her throat. Her eyes were still closed but I knew she would be alright. I turned my head upwards to see who my helper was and let out a breath of relief when I recognized the shocking blue hair.

"Ethan…" I murmured in relief.

"Hey, beautiful. You gave us all a scare."

"How is-" I gulped. "How is she?"

"She's fine. I promise."

I sat up slowly and held Ethan's shoulder for support as I attempted to stand. Ethan stood as well and held my arm firmly but softly as I tried to keep steady. My knees gave out and I fell into his chest, growling warningly at him as he tried to help me back up. I could do it by myself; I didn't need someone's help to do a simple task like stand. I straightened and shook my head, clearing my eyes in the process. I brushed the dirt off my kimono and squatted down next to my daughter as her black eyes opened lethargically.

"Mommy, I'm sorry," she said softly in Spanish, lowering her eyes to the ground after she stood. I put my hand onto her shoulder, my way of telling her that everything was okay. There was also another hidden message in there, one saying that it was my entire fault, but I wasn't sure she understood it. Just as well. I took my hand off her shoulder.

I looked around to thank the person who had helped my daughter when I realized everyone but Ethan had left. My eyebrows furrowed and then relaxed as I shrugged to myself and turned to face Ethan. I nodded my thanks to him and he smiled, his white teeth glittering in the sunlight.

"Is it possible you could provide a portal to the Ningenkai for us? We haven't fed enough," I asked quietly, ashamed I was too weak to conjure one myself so my daughter and I could feed. The only one who ever saw this side of me was Ethan and, in my opinion, he saw it too much. Way too much.

"Of course," replied Ethan.

He grabbed a stick off the ground and kneeled on one knee, drawing runes into the soft dirt. They looked odd to me, but they were Ethan's way of life. No one really knew exactly what he was, since he never spoke of his past, but they knew he was loyal and that's all that mattered. The four runes he had drawn in a circle glowed a light blue, soon turning the ground in the center of the circle into a portal. Great, we were going to _jump_ into the portal.

Adoncia jumped in first with a whoop of glee, her black hair bouncing on her shoulders, and I followed quickly after her. My feet met hard cement and I quickly took in my surroundings.

I was standing on a sidewalk. The small park behind me was all but deserted and I immediately singled it out as the place where Adoncia and I would feed. Across the street was a movie theater – something I had never been to but knew of. It was getting to be the late afternoon and I was glad I had come at a time where the moon wasn't out. That wouldn't have been good for me. Unfortunately, it was harder to feed on humans during the day, especially in such a populated area. I sniffed lightly and backed into the woods, looking up at a particular tree in the process. There, lying nonchalantly on a branch and picking dirt from underneath her fingernails, was my daughter. I smirked at her behavior and joined her in the tree.

"You will go first," I told her, pushing her out of the tree.

She gasped in surprise, but twisted her body around and landed cat-like on all fours. She straightened and glared up at me, a sight that was supposed to be intimidating but I found quite adorable. Adorable was a word I'd rarely ever used before, especially not on my daughter.

"Fine," she grumbled, clenching her fists and stomping out of the woods.

I watched in amusement as she scanned the people bustling about, trying to select one that would satisfy her hunger and would be easy for her to take out. The process of feeding is much like going to the supermarket and picking through all the apples to find the best one. You don't want bruises, or mold, or worms, and it has to be ripe. Surprisingly, there was such a thing as rotten blood. Usually I could tell if someone has it, but it's taken my daughter a few "warm-ups" to fully understand. The sickly people give off a weak energy signal, and you know to stay away from them. There's always something wrong with those people.

"Please, sir, my kitten. My kitten is stuck in a tree," sobbed my daughter, pointing into the woods away from watching eyes. Tears streamed down her face and her bottom lip trembled pathetically. Oh, if only the person she talked to knew what she was capable of doing. She spoke in English; though that was the only phrase I had ever taught her.

Children have a way of persuading even the cruelest of mortals into fulfilling their every whim. I had figured out how to help Adoncia harness this innocent power. It's deceiving, and I wasn't a person who liked to lie, but when it came to feeding I didn't care what you had to do to get what you want. I myself had done some regrettable things, some I'd rather not talk about.

The middle aged man my daughter was speaking to nodded his head and followed after her into the woods eagerly. Too eagerly. I watched in disgust as he licked his lips enthusiastically and grew a wanting gleam in his eye. I'd heard of people like these before, people who hurt young children. People who didn't deserve to live.

I hoped Adoncia would rip him to pieces.

Adoncia kept walking deeper into the woods and I followed close behind in the trees with a scowl on my face. I wasn't annoyed with her lack of doing anything, I was infuriated with the way the man kept scanning her fragile body with his wandering eyes. And the way he kept glancing behind him to make sure they were far enough from the eyes of people walking by on the sidewalk. If he made a move to do anything to my daughter, there was nothing holding me back from _eliminating_ him slowly and painfully.

My daughter finally stopped walking and turned around, smiling sweetly with her hands clasped loosely behind her back. She cocked her head to one side and began rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. The man licked his lips again and started walking slowly toward her. Fear flickered across her expression and she unclasped her hands from behind her while stumbling back a few steps. I almost leaped out of the tree at the man.

Almost.

Adoncia had never met someone who had acted this strangely, I knew. This in itself was cause enough for my hands to grip the branch I was crouched on, my nails digging harshly into the bark. The expression of fear swiftly disappeared and I could see her put on a blank face, hiding any emotions. She was learning.

A sick grin spread over the man's face and he began reaching his hands out to my daughter. Adoncia, not wanting to act anymore, grinned mischievously, showing quite well her abnormally long canines. Her mouth opened and a loud hiss came out of her throat as her canines grew even longer, reaching her lower lip. The man yelped, surprised, and turned around to run away.

The chase was on.

I grinned in a twisted sort of anticipation as I watched my daughter mirror my bloodthirsty grin. She bent her knees and launched herself at the man, knocking into his back and causing him to fall over. The man shouted in surprise as his body hit the ground, attempting to lighten his fall with his hands. Unfortunately, the force of my daughter knocking into him was so great that his one wrist snapped under the strain. It wasn't so much the crack resonating throughout the forest as much as the bone protruding through the skin that told me it was broken.

Adoncia laughed teasingly and childishly and leaped off his back into a tree, that girlish grin still stuck on her face. She loved doing this, and I knew I should've been horrified, but I wasn't. The fact was, it was better that she got used to it than hating it because she would have to do it for the rest of her life. The man whimpered in fear and got to his feet, twisting around as my daughter continued to play these games with him. He ran farther into the park, obviously disoriented from the pain in his wrist and from being knocked to the ground.

My child's grin widened at his confusion as she leaped from the tree to stand in front of him. He stopped in his tracks just as my daughter snapped her leg out to come into contact with his kneecap. Adoncia stomped harshly on his windpipe – no doubt crushing it - when he fell to the ground to prevent him from screaming.

The man wheezed pathetically, trying to crawl away using his remaining body parts, but he let out a whimper every time he moved. Adoncia grinned again and walked slowly over to him as he gave up and lay on his back, staring at my daughter in pure terror. I couldn't help but think that some of his child victims had given him the same look right before he abused and probably killed them. Adoncia picked him up by the front of his shirt, her height limiting her to lifting only the top half of his body off of the ground, and slammed him into a tree so she could feed more easily.

He tried to punch her with his unharmed hand, but Adoncia grabbed it and pushed it backwards, breaking that wrist as easily as she had the other. His eyes rolled into the back of his head for a second in pain, and then they refocused as he began breathing abnormally fast. Adoncia let go of his shirt and ran a sharp fingernail down his cheek, leaving a shallow cut. The man sagged slightly, but stayed in his sitting position. Blood trickled out and she eagerly lapped it up. I was tempted to go over and feed, but I knew that she'd earned this one.

Adoncia placed her tiny hands on his chin and the top of his head and gently pushed them different ways, giving her a better shot at his neck. She removed her hands, knowing all too well that he was too paralyzed with fear to move, and fiercely attacked his neck with her fangs, digging them in as deep as they could go. Not one drop of blood escaped out of her mouth and I was oddly proud that she was using better eating manners.

The man twitched one last time then went limp as my daughter let go of him. She drew back and calmly ran a tongue over her teeth, which had begun shrinking back to normal. I had taught my daughter that if you drink the last drop of blood, your life disappears along with theirs.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve to see if she had blood around her mouth, which she didn't, then kicked the carcass of the man and jumped into the tree I was sitting in. I smirked and clapped politely, knowing she enjoyed the praise I gave her even if it didn't contain any words. Adoncia gave a little bow and leaned against the trunk of the tree with her one leg hanging off the branch, her arms crossed, and eyes closed. She would wait here until I was done feeding.

My method of feeding was much more simple and efficient. I merely grabbed the desired person. I didn't need anything to lure them or draw them towards me. Snatching them from under the other humans' noses was just as easy. That was the method I used to capture my prey, a young college male, and it was over just as soon as it'd started.

A strange yet pleasing sensation filled my mouth as my teeth shrunk back to normal, almost as if it was their cravings for blood that had been satisfied. Something landed beside me quietly and I looked over to see Adoncia. She grinned at me and rubbed her stomach in satisfaction, happy with herself.

Now that I had regained my strength I could conjure a portal, so I placed my hands in front of me and put a substantial amount of my energy into a glowing disk of light that became increasingly larger as I put more energy into it. Once it was big enough I let my hands fall limply to my side. Adoncia and I looked at each other before walking through with our stomachs full and bodies satisfied.

Adoncia, half a vampire, and me, something only too similar.


	6. Awkward Introductions

**Chapter Five**

My child landed not as gracefully as I did when we exited the portal to enter the town's center square. She tripped over her own feet and just barely caught herself from falling over. I did nothing to help her – she needed to learn to fend for herself because I wouldn't always be there to baby her.

Since we'd landed in the very heart of the town, named Poco Square (Little Square), our appearance went practically unnoticed at first. It wasn't shocking, either. By now the townspeople were used to portals just randomly emerging, even more used to me being the person who used them. There were some people sitting on the side of the great fountain that adorned the very center of the town's square, talking with each other or simply just staring at it. Other villagers were selling their season's crops in wooden booths along the edges, while yet others simply mulled around, buying and chatting.

Adoncia put her forearm in front of her eyes and hissed at the sudden appearance of the sun in her eyes. She was always sensitive to light right after eating and usually went to rest awhile in bed. I knew this time was no different from the others as she gave a quick nod to me and began jogging off to our home. While she was running she twirled a finger above her hair and it twisted itself into its usual bun, flower included.

I smirked, amused. She was mastering her powers quickly.

With a sigh of annoyance I realized I should go back to the ningenkai to guard Genkai's temple. I was hesitant to leave after Adoncia's little _episode_, but I had an honor code that I respected and lived by. If I gave someone my word, it was very powerful thing because I would do almost anything to get to my goal, and in this case, my goal was to guard their temple for a month to repay them.

When the people crowding Poco Square finally recognized me there, they gave me small smiles and enthusiastic nods of their heads. Some even stopped in the middle of talking to their fellow villagers and stood up to wave to me, while less actually came over to greet me. I gave a growl of irritation as they started walking over to me, lowering my hands from beginning to conjure another portal to the Ningenkai. Such delays!

"Lady, how was your trip?"

"Are you leaving us already, Lady?"

"Please don't go!"

"When will you be back?"

I tried to answer the questions people were throwing at me, but they were all coming too quick for me to cope with. By now a tiny group had formed around me, preventing me from making my escape back to the Ningenkai. I glanced up to the sky to see the sun directly above us. If I hurried, I could make it back to Genkai's temple by late morning. I lowered my gaze back to the people surrounding me and became angrier by the second as they kept on chatting away, not bothering to move. I was getting to the end of my rope when a familiar face pushed through.

"Come on, soldiers, move it! The general has somewhere to be!" shouted Sonjay, now in the midst of the crowd next to myself.

The talking, which by now had escalated to a dull roar, abruptly stopped as Sonjay spoke. I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms, leaving things to Sonjay. He wasn't as high in rank as I was, but people still listened to him. When nothing happened except a few people blinking in confusion, Sonjay stepped forward and gave a little growl, clenching his hands into fists to emphasize his point.

That got them moving.

Sonjay was a shadow demon, and a damn good one at that. He had an impressive amount of power, making him a lower A class demon. Myself? I didn't keep tabs on such things as that. After all the training I'd been put through as a child, and then put myself through as a growing adult, the only thing that mattered was how strong I pushed myself to be. I found no use in allowing a simple letter to label the capabilities of my power.

_The child was shaken awake. She opened her eyes drowsily to see the sun had just begun rising over the horizon, making it safe for her to walk about. She turned her eyes to the one who'd woken her. Her father stood above her, chocolate eyes coldly staring down at her. She was instantly more awake; she knew that face. It was the face he put on every time he prepared to train his daughter._

_  
"Get up, Emerald," commanded Antonio._

_  
The child struggled to her elbows and let her eyes scan the room, noting that her mother was still peacefully sleeping on the other side of the hut, wrapped in a warm blanket._

_  
"We must work now, before the sun comes up," Antonio explained. "Unless you would prefer to work during the heat of the day."_

_  
Emerald forced herself awake. "No, no, I agree, Papa."_

_  
"Get dressed," Antonio ordered. "Meet me outside."_

_  
She dropped back down onto the grass pile that was her bed and listened to her father walk away. It was time for another day of training. Emerald inhaled shakily and exhaled just as anxiously, knowing very well her father took training seriously. Sometimes too seriously._

_  
Emerald quickly undressed herself from her thin, cotton nightdress, and threw on her simple, brown tunic. Her father did not take kindly to people who kept him waiting, even if that person was his own daughter. The child walked out of the hut and her vision was almost immediately cut off due to a piece of cloth being tied across her eyes._

_  
"Papa?" asked the child nervously._

_  
"You may not use your vision for this challenge. If you can touch me before the sun rises above the horizon, then you may eat today," came her father's emotionless voice. His hands left her and he moved away._

_  
Something stung the child's cheek and she shrieked in surprise._

_  
"Papa!"_

_  
Another shot hit her other cheek. She couldn't see so she had no idea where all these blows were coming from. It didn't hurt that much, telling the child that her father was going easy on her, but her cheeks were stinging from the impact. It was more the surprise of being hit that caused her to call out._

_  
"I did not say that I would not touch you," Antonio said._

_  
"B-but I can't see!"_

_  
Emerald fell onto the ground as another strike hit her shoulder. Her tailbone made contact with the dirt and she whimpered in pain. She hesitantly worked herself to her feet after a few seconds of sitting there._

_  
"Yes, you can," replied Antonio calmly._

_  
She rocked from side to side as two blows hit her, one right after the other._

_  
"N-no!" complained the child._

_  
"Do not get angry," said Antonio's voice. "Anger leads to mistakes."_

_  
Whap. The child's head jerked to one side from the force. He was using open hands, so she wasn't getting hurt, but it stung getting slapped around. She spun around, hands out, hoping to hit something. Anything. All she got was air._

_  
"Control, my child," scolded her father's voice, right before he dealt a blow to her stomach._

_  
Emerald doubled over, clutching her stomach, and sniffed as tears soaked the cloth covering her eyes, not having the chance to turn into tear gems. She was breathing hard and sweating – already tired._

_  
"Conserve your energy," said Antonio, as if he could read her mind._

_  
Hands came out of nowhere, striking her all over her body. She spun around blindly, groping for a part of her father's body. Once again, nothing came in contact with her hands._

_  
"You can hear me," Antonio said softly. "You can smell me. You can feel the heat of my body."_

_  
Three smacks showered her face, leaving a stinging sensation that refused to fade away. Emerald tried desperately to follow her father's advice, but she was too worked up to do it properly. Desperation gave way to frustration._

_  
"This is useless!" shouted Emerald. No sooner had the words left her mouth than a barrage of shots attacked her and spun her body around. She stumbled and smacked into something. For a second she ran her hands over the surface, curious as to what it was, before she realized it was her hut. She pushed away._

_  
"Feel me," whispered Antonio._

_  
Emerald took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She stood perfectly still to try to sense where Antonio might be. She couldn't. Instead she got hit with so many shots she was nearly rocked off her feet._

_  
"Papa!" she shouted. "Please! Stop!"_

_  
There was no answer. No instruction. No comment._

_  
"Papa?" asked Emerald warily, wondering if he was still around._

_  
A hand roughly ripped off the blindfold, causing Emerald's head to jerk to the side, and she blinked in the sunlight. She raised her eyes to see her father gazing down at her, no emotion on his face. She looked into his eyes to see they were filled with anger and disappointment. The child hung her head in shame. She could not complete the task in time. She failed._

_  
"You have not earned your meals today," spoke Antonio before walking back into his hut, leaving his daughter to cry into her hands on the ground._

I stiffened at the memory. Though it hadn't made sense to me back then, I realized that it was all for the better. My father's training _had _helped me. Even if he had been distant at times, I missed him all the same.

"Lady Theda?"

"Yes, Sonjay?" I asked, vision focusing on the man standing before me.

"Will you be alright?" he questioned like an overprotective brother.

"I will. Make sure you take Adoncia out to feed at least once while I'm away. I'll try to return as soon as possible."

I turned to summon a portal, a disk of blue light in front of me slowly getting bigger as I fed more of my energy into it. When it was at a decent size, I dropped my arm and looked at it, pleased I'd conjured one so quickly. I wasn't a professional at bringing portals to life, but I was learning. I had my training to thank for that.

"Emerald?" asked Sonjay in a softer voice. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I growled. "Now, please, let me get back to the Ningenkai."

"Very well," replied Sonjay, and bowed his head, hurt.

I let out a tiny sigh and touched his arm. He lifted his gaze to stare into my eyes and I gave a little smile. I watched as his eyes widened at the sign of affection, not used to this side of me. Actually, no one was. I was rarely ever this affectionate. This was the most I ever let my guard down, and I didn't do it much. I withdrew my hand and we nodded at each other in understanding before I turned on my heel and strode into the portal, feeling Sonjay's eyes on me the whole time.

I was happy when my portal appeared only ten feet into the forest surrounding Genkai's temple. I had meant to exit farther in, just in case one of the women saw me, but I was still new at this whole "conjuring portals" business. Of course, I would never readily admit that to anyone.

Almost instinctively I jumped into a tree before I even had the chance to blink. I chuckled at my actions and leaped through the trees until they suddenly ended and gave way to the clearing the temple was in. Though I would've preferred to just sit in a tree and watch the clouds make their way across the sky, I knew I had to check in with Genkai. It was kind of an unwritten rule that I should check in at least once a day. Well, to me it seemed reasonable.

"Miss Emerald? Is that you?"

I looked to the temple entrance to see Yukina standing in the doorway, looking just as she did yesterday. I expected Botan and Kayko to come running out after her, so I was mildly surprised when I saw no sign of them.

"Where are the others?"

"Kayko went to an end-of-the-school-year party, Master Genkai is training Yusuke, and Botan is…away," explained Yukina. I could hear a tone of nervousness when she spoke about Botan's whereabouts, but I didn't dwell on it long.

My eyebrows furrowed at the name Yusuke. Where had I heard it before?

"I wasn't aware Genkai was a trainer," I mused.

"Oh, yes," nodded Yukina. "She is."

I smirked, just thinking about the old woman training someone. Sure, it seemed she had been a good fighter _awhile _ago, but certainly she wouldn't be in the same physical condition she might've been twenty years ago as she was now. Her training someone was a spectacle I just had to see.

A breeze drifted through the clearing, carrying with it many scents. There were four others besides Genkai, and they were all male.

"Who else is here?" I asked Yukina, letting my eyes drift towards the direction I smelled the people from.

"Yusuke's friends," answered Yukina evasively.

I narrowed my eyes and began walking in that direction, not taking kindly to the intruders. It was my duty to guard the temple, and it was equally my duty to know who visited it. Yukina's actions threw me off. She seemed so sweet, so what caused her to be so secretive? All the more reason for me to investigate.

When I was out of Yukina's line of vision I walked briskly into the woods, a scowl crossing my face. As I walked I threw my hair recklessly into a high ponytail so it was out of my eyes. I growled at the length, noting once again that I desperately needed to have it cut. I patted my calf and smirked in satisfaction when I felt the familiar sensation of my dagger and its holder.

Spotting a branch that looked sturdy enough, I leaped and grabbed it. I swung forwards, then backwards, then forwards again before flipping up and landing on the branch on my feet. I wiped the pieces of bark roughly off my kimono and tugged my sash, fastening it securely. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear, I was ready.

It took me a maximum of ten seconds to find where Yusuke, Genkai, and the three unknowns were. They were still in the vicinity of the temple grounds, which made my search easier. I watched through the branches and leaves of the tree I was crouching in, matching the scents with people.

Yusuke, a male around my age, had raven hair with a distinct "fresh out of bed" look and dirt-colored eyes, and was sparring intently with Genkai. He was dressed in a simple white t-shirt and jeans and was probably six foot three. I couldn't help wondering if he was hot or not in the summer heat. My kimono covered my body, sure, but it was a very light material. My eyebrows nearly shot up off my forehead when I saw the speed and agility the old woman carried. It was mighty impressive.

Standing not too far away from the pair of fighters, were another pair of people, talking back and forth. A quick scan and I easily paired the person up with the scent.

At first glance I believed the one figure to be a female, due to his long, cherry-red hair, but when observing his body type I realized it was too masculine for him to be a woman. He turned to talk to his friend and I got a brief glimpse of jade eyes, only too similar to my own. His body language gave me the impression he had a calm personality and was not easily angered, causing him to be an overall nice person. He was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and khaki shorts. He looked to be about 6'5".

The man standing next to him was an inch or two taller and had the weirdest shade of orange hair I've ever seen. His hair was held together by an elastic in a low ponytail and was the same length as the 's. Just by his body stature I could tell he was an oaf, let alone too confident in himself. He didn't even look all that powerful. His eyes were small and a light brown. He, like Yusuke, was dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans.

I could only wonder where the fourth scent went. Guessing that the others were male, I assumed he was one as well. I sniffed to no avail. I had lost his scent.

Since their backs were to me and the wind was coming towards me instead of away from me, I wasn't in fear of being spotted or smelled. That's why it took me completely and utterly by surprise when the oaf whispered something to the and they turned simultaneously to look into the tree I was hiding in. Before I even had a chance to let my eyes widen I was rudely knocked off the branch.

As I was falling my instincts kicked in and I twisted my body around to land delicately on my feet. My knees were bent slightly from the impact and I let out a true growl in both annoyance and surprise. Before anyone had the chance to blink I bent down and quickly took my dagger out of its holder. I didn't have to wait long for my attacker because he came down out of the tree in a black blur right after I revealed my weapon. He shoved me against the trunk of the tree with the cool steel of a katana at my throat and I got a very good look at him.

The attacker was only a few inches taller than my pathetic 5'2" height, so I could look into his eyes pretty well. They were an unusual color, a deep crimson that one could get lost in. He, unlike the other three, wore all black, save for a white sweatband wrapped around his forehead. A sleeveless black shirt and black pants. His most unusual feature, however, was his midnight hair. It stuck up straight, resembling a flame, and had a starburst of white near the forehead.

He was also well built.

Then something struck me. The cool blade of his katana wasn't burning my skin as other ningen-made metal objects did, which could only mean that whoever made the katana wasn't a human. If he associated with demons, then there was an eighty percent chance that he was a demon as well, and if he was a demon, then I had to kill him to protect Genkai's temple from an intrusion. Problem solved.

I fiercely punched him in the gut, and his katana moved away from my neck at the same time he staggered back a few steps, surprise etched in every line of his face. I dropped to the ground and swung my foot into the back of his ankles, toppling him over. Quickly I placed my knee underneath his chin and rested the tip of my dagger against his temple, preparing to eliminate the bothersome demon.

"Emerald, stop!"

My head jerked up to be met with the sight of Genkai standing over me, arms crossed and expression serious, though I could tell she was slightly amused by the scene that had just played out. I stared back at her, confused. Isn't this what she wanted me to do? Didn't she want me to protect her temple?

Yusuke, the oaf, and the all watched to see what my reaction would be, ready to attack me if I so much as scratched my attacker. I was confused further. He attacked me, so why should they be trying to prevent me from the man? My eyebrows pinched together.

"He's a friend; you can let him go," Genkai assured me.

I hesitated and drew my dagger away from his head at the same time I stood up. He glared violently at me and quickly got to his feet, securing his katana in a sheath as he did. He stalked off to stand near the redhead who, like Yusuke and the oaf, was watching me warily, wondering who I was. I straightened my back and immediately set my face to glare at the four of them. My attacker glared back.

"Genkai, who is that?" asked Yusuke rudely, pointing a finger to me. I growled and then crossed my arms stubbornly when Genkai gave me a reproachful glance.

"This is our temporary temple guardian: Emerald," replied Genkai.

"What?!" shouted Yusuke and the oaf. Obviously they weren't too fond of me. Not like I cared, I wasn't exactly ready to become life-long friends with them either.

"Yusuke, Kuwabara," warned Genkai threateningly. So, the oaf's name was actually Kuwabara, huh? Just as Yusuke's name, his name sounded familiar as well, I just couldn't put my finger on where I'd heard it.

"I apologize for Hiei's actions, Emerald. My name is Shuichi Minamino," spoke the redhead, or technically Shuichi, giving me a warm smile. I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously and his smile faltered slightly. I continued my glaring contest with my attacker, whose name was apparently Hiei.

I knew those names from somewhere, I was sure of it.

Then suddenly I realized who they were. I was sure it was them. My eyes widened slightly at the new information. Yusuke Urameshi, Kazuma Kuwabara, Kurama, known as Shuichi Minamino in the Ningenkai, and Hiei Jaganshi. They were much different from their seventeen-year-old files; now they were all my age. I couldn't believe I hadn't recognized them until that moment. How could I possibly have forgotten who they were when I'd heard enough about them to make me want to throw myself off a cliff?

They were Team Urameshi, Koenma's famous Reikai Tantei; the spirit detectives.


	7. You Are Cordially Invited

**Chapter Six**

**  
**Every fiber in my body wanted to gasp in surprise, but I swallowed down that instinct before it had the chance to surface. My throat ached from the effort, but I couldn't have them being suspicious of me. Though by attacking their vertically challenged friend, Hiei, their opinion on me couldn't have been the best. Not the way I wanted to be remembered by the Reikai Tantei.

I had to suppress a physical slap to myself when I realized that I had loosed a true growl. Hopefully they hadn't heard it, or were too caught up in watching my actions to notice, but I knew that probably wouldn't happen. If they were as powerful as Koenma made them out to be, then they knew I was no _ningen_. Plus, my growl wasn't exactly a meow, either.

The shortest one, Hiei, was studying me intently, both with his visible eyes and hidden one. The Jagan was concealed behind the white sweatband and carried many abilities with it, one he was attempting to try on me now. As soon as I felt the gentle prodding of someone trying to get into my mind, I cleared my head of thoughts that could bring attention to themselves. Creating a mind block would've been too suspicious in the eyes of the ill-tempered fire demon.

After he had thoroughly searched through my thoughts and not found anything interesting, he pulled out and settled for glaring at me instead. I didn't have a problem with it. In fact, I glared right back.

My hopes of not being interrogated about the growl were dashed when Kurama glanced at Hiei briefly, probably having a telepathic conversation, and said, "So, you're a demon?"

I was about to retort with "What's a demon?" in a futile attempt at trying to conceal my identity, when Genkai surprised us all and said, "She's no demon."

Her voice carried the tone of knowing more than the ones she was talking to, and I knew she had figured out what I was. If she was training the great Yusuke Urameshi, I wasn't surprised she was able to sense my…race, if you will. She glanced at me briefly before crossing her arms and setting her gaze on the four men in front of her. I had a sneaking suspicion, and I was going to voice it.

"You knew what I was all along, didn't you?" I asked, eyes narrowing.

"I had a feeling," she replied.

There was a silence in which I leaned my back against the tree I'd been originally knocked out of and began throwing my dagger up and down, carefully avoiding touching the blade. Though it was my weapon, my race still couldn't interact with man-made things. Now, we could touch cement, or fabric, or such, but they weren't things we were used to. Cement and concrete weren't harmful to us; they were just preferred not to be dealt with. Metal shaped by human hands I couldn't touch at all without being burned by it. I wasn't complaining; human metal-making was primitive.

"You can't just have that conversation and leave us hanging there," spoke up Yusuke angrily. When I made no move to answer, Genkai sent a glance my way. I nodded and put my dagger away in its holder on my leg, intent on listening to the upcoming discussion.

"She's an immortal," answered Genkai.

"A vampire?" asked Kuwabara.

I snarled and flickered in front of him, not bothering to hide my sharp canines from view. He shrieked, sounding amazingly like a female, and jumped in surprise. I would've found it funny if what he'd called me wasn't so insulting. I roughly grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled, bringing his face down to my level and glaring right into his eyes, my anger at its boiling point.

"I am no vampire," I hissed.

"Then why do you have fangs?" he asked in a tiny voice.

If he thought that was bad, he should've seen me when I was _really _angry.

"That, _ningen_, is none of your concern, nor will it ever be," I growled before throwing him over my shoulder and onto the ground.

I wasn't very fond of vampires. I admit, my race was closely related to them; in fact, we were cousins, but we didn't exactly see eye-to-eye. I didn't know where it started, I didn't even know how it started, but there had been an ongoing feud between vampires and my race since as long as I could remember. We both drank and have superhuman strength and such, but there were many differences between us. My race couldn't walk in the moonlight, while vampires couldn't walk in the daylight; my race tended to have a strong bond with animals, while vampires tended to eat them. Metal made by human hands was our weakness, wood was theirs.

These are some of the reasons why Kuwabara calling me that was so insulting. It was demeaning for me to be called one of those…_things_. Especially when I had a bad history with them.

Having burned out my anger by taking it out on Kuwabara, I straightened and calmly brushed my kimono off. I began walking back to the tree I'd sat in, been pushed out of, and leaned against, when I heard the whistling of something coming towards me. Fast. My hand leapt up, as if with a life of its own, and grabbed the blade of the katana that had been sailing through the air, intent on cutting my head off.

My eyes snapped up to see two crimson ones glaring back at me. It hadn't been one of my neater catches, and the katana had cut into my palm, which was easy to tell since was dripping in a steady rhythm to the ground. Hiei and I stood there for a few seconds before I took a step backwards and let go. In my peripheral vision I could see Kurama wince at the sight of my hand.

I clenched my fist, holding it up next to my face for Hiei to see, and reopened it. The cut had disappeared and the skin had completely healed over, nothing left to signify I'd been injured except for the few drops of on the ground. I lowered my hand to my side before smirking, turning on my heel, and walking back to the temple to see if Yukina needed anymore help with preparing lunch for everybody.

Still walking away, I grinned and couldn't help thinking, _Emerald: 2, Hiei: 0.  
_

_  
_It'd been three weeks since my little encounter with the Reikai Tantei, and I avoided having another one like it at all costs. Whenever they'd visit the temple I'd make sure I kept out of sight, fleeing to the forest or going to the secret hilltop I'd discovered with Braelyn.

Speaking of my guardian angel, I hadn't seen her in the longest time. Maybe I'd really hurt her feelings speaking like that back on the hilltop. I couldn't help it though, she knew I didn't like other people's sympathy; it made me feel too weak.

I hadn't seen Hikaru, either, but that didn't surprise me. He often disappeared for months at a time to travel to the Makai. Honestly, sometimes that boy could get on my nerves. Although, I could be just as infuriating when I truly wanted to be. I guess what goes around comes around.

"Emerald, could you pass the pepper?"

I looked up from the cucumber I was chopping for the salad I was making long enough to spot the pepper to my right, pick it up, and hand it to Yukina. Botan, Yukina, Kayko, and I were making dinner for ourselves, Genkai, and the Reikai Tantei, who still had no idea I knew that they were the spirit detectives.

I picked up the wooden cutting board the slices of cucumber were on and pushed them into the wooden salad bowl with the blade of the knife. I glanced at the salad before realizing, with a scowl, that it needed another cucumber. I picked another one up and cut the cucumber into slices once again, the blade moving incredibly fast. I dumped the slices into the bowl and picked up a carrot to start on.

"They're going to be so surprised!" squealed Botan. She was practically jumping up and down in excitement and I watched the knife she was holding warily, just waiting for something bad to happen. She was helping me in my long quest to fill up the salad bowl with vegetables.

"They're going to love it!" grinned Kayko with just as much enthusiasm.

"For how hard it is, I hope so," I muttered to myself, knowing they were too wrapped up in their own to listen to me. They'd become tolerable enough for me to be around. I had so easily fallen into their personalities. There was just something about these three women that I found amusing.

I threw some more lettuce into the bowl and stole the pepper back from Yukina to sprinkle it lightly over the top of the salad for some flavor. If the boys didn't like it, too bad. I wiped the back of my hand over my forehead. Yukina was stirring a soup she was boiling on the stove while checking on a turkey she had in the oven every five minutes and Kayko was practically slaving over a chocolate cake she was making.

Kayko was so jittery about the men coming that I was amazed she hadn't messed something up already. It was obvious to anyone with a brain that she was hopelessly in love with Yusuke, as he was with her. They never really talked about it with anyone, but one glance and you knew they were together. Their eyes lit up and their cheeks flushed when you mentioned something that even sounded like the other's name. I was just waiting for Yusuke to propose to her, as was the human custom.

I hadn't fed in those three weeks and I knew I needed to by the way I kept getting headaches. The women already knew I needed to survive, but that didn't mean I wanted to feed while I was guarding their temple. I was too afraid something would happen in the amount of time it took me to go to town, lure someone into a secluded area, and drain them. It could take an hour for all I knew; an hour I wouldn't be protecting them. Although, since the Reikai Tantei were coming to dinner to tonight, maybe I could feed right after dinner. The temple would be guarded by them and I could get my fill.

"Emerald, could you check to see if they're coming?" asked Kayko, smoothing the frosting on her cake and making sure no spots were left uncovered.

I nodded and wiped my hands on my apron before walking out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and into the main room of the temple. I slid open the door to come face-to-face with Kurama. I blinked in surprise before quickly sliding the door shut again and walking back into the kitchen, leaving very confused Reikai Tantei behind me.

"They're here," I announced calmly.

I watched in amusement as the kitchen immediately exploded into action. Messes were cleaned, bowls and knives were thrown into the sink to be washed later, and the dinner was quickly shuttled from the kitchen to the dining room. Wanting to do something, I quickly picked out nine spoons, nine forks, and nine knives from the silverware drawer. Unfortunately, my hands weren't large enough to carry all of them, so I had to dump the utensils unceremoniously into a carrier I made by holding the end of my apron, making sure I covered my hand with a rag before I touched them so I wouldn't be burned. I quickly rushed into the dining room and placed one of each by each of the plates. The women had already rushed off to change into something else.

With a sigh I walked out of the dining room and into the hallway while untying my apron. I lifted the apron off of me and draped it over my arm, walking slowly towards my bedroom. I twisted the knob and opened the door and immediately my eyes widened. Clothes were strewn everywhere, and some were still in the process of flying through the air. I blinked once and looked to where they were coming from to see the three women themselves digging ferociously through their clothes to find something to wear.

"How about this?"

"Oh, this is so adorable!"

"Does this go with my eyes?"

"Where did I put my kimono?"

"I can't find my obi!"

"Does anyone have a hair tie?"

Honestly, I don't know how they could get so worked up about a simple dinner. If anyone should be nervous, I should for slamming the door in the men's face. I couldn't help it though; I knew the women would kill me if I let the men into the temple when they were still unprepared. Knowing Yusuke and Kuwabara, they weren't going to let me live that down. I watched the three ladies, amused, leaning against the doorframe with my arms crossed. When the women were finally done dressing themselves they turned to walk out the door, smiles on their faces, took one look at me, and frowned. Before I could speak they were pulling me into the room and searching for an outfit for me.

When they started tugging at the bottom of my shorts, I backed away.

"I'm fine, I'll go in this."

Unfortunately, instead of warding them off like I hoped the statement would, it only made them more persistent. Their mouths were set into firm lines and I knew no matter what I said they would eventually get me into the outfit they'd picked out for me, which, as far as I could see, was a very short dress.

I tried edging around them towards the door, but the next thing I knew something slammed into my side and I was being pinned down to the bed. Before I could speak a word of protest, I was lying there with nothing but my underclothes on. I was wrenched off the bed by my upper arm at the same time something slid over my head. When I finally realized what it was, it was too late for me to take the dress off; and, with a sudden stab of , I saw just how short it was.

"I will not wear this," I growled.

"Oh, yes, you will," shot back Botan with such ferocity I swallowed my rude words and sat there as they put a few finishing touches on their own outfits.

"Ready?" asked Kayko in an overly cheery voice. She pushed me out of the room and I snarled warningly at her before beginning to make my way to the dining room.

Then I froze.

I couldn't go there in there in my state. Walking around in this poor excuse for a dress in front of Hiei and Kurama, two male demons, while I was in heat was practically asking - no _begging _- for a mate. Unlike our vampire cousins, my race contained demon , which means we got all the _lovely _side effects to go with that part of us. My race mated like normal demons and, unfortunately, the females also had heat cycles like normal female demons.

I also couldn't attempt to explain that to the women. I was pretty sure they knew about females in heat, but it would just be plain embarrassing if I had to explain to them that I could barely control myself during those times as well. The best I could hope for was to sit as far away from Hiei and Kurama as possible and then avoid talking to them for the rest of the dinner.

This was going to be a long dinner.

I waited for the three ladies to catch up to me and then fell to the back of the group, trying to hide myself as much as I could. A strand of hair fell into my eye and I brushed it away at the same time an ever familiar voice exploded throughout the temple. I winced and covered my sensitive ears with my hands.

"_Oi_, Emerald! Why'd you close the door on us?" shouted Yusuke. I stood on my tippy-toes to try to look over the heads of the three women, since I was much shorter than them, and could just barely see Yusuke's angry face.

Before I could speak up for myself Kayko grabbed my upper arm, quite roughly, might I add, and pushed me to the front, leaving me to deliver the surprise of the dinner we'd made. I couldn't really blame her, she could barely talk without stuttering nervously whenever Yusuke was in the room. I stumbled and caught myself for the second time today before turning my head around and giving a true growl, causing the ladies to shrink back. Happier now that I'd released my anger, I turned back to the Reikai Tantei, tugging on the bottom of my dress to see if it would go any lower.

"We made dinner," I muttered. Someone nudged my back and I had to keep myself from strangling them. Louder, I snarled, "The humans forced me to engage in a less-than-desirable act, consisting of cooking food for the disgusting lot of you, and now you're going to eat it whether you like it or not."

Then I strode past the group and into the dining room, hesitating for a moment as the others trailed in behind me. Botan shot me a venomous glare when she caught sight of me, probably because I'd ruined the surprise a bit, but I just sniffed and turned my eyes away in boredom.

"Yukina, my love, this is perfect!"

"Did you seriously make this without burning the temple down?"

"This is very thoughtful of you, thank you."

"Hn."

I quickly claimed my seat at the end of the table while everyone else began seating themselves. Luckily, Hiei and Kurama sat at the other end, opposite each other.

"Where's grandma?" asked Yusuke, not bothering to wait for her and beginning to pile food on his plate. Kayko rolled her eyes at his actions.

"Right here, dimwit."

Genkai appeared in the doorway and walked to her place at the head of the table, beginning to place food on her plate. When she was done everyone immediately moved into action and began taking what they wanted. I pulled the ladle out of the soup bowl and began filling a tinier bowl with it. I needed to feed, so my appetite for any other food was completely gone. I felt a tiny bit of regret, too; the turkey looked delicious. Instead, I settled for taking tiny sips of soup to make it look like I was at least making an attempt to eat, making sure I wrapped the handle of the spoon in my napkin so my bare skin wouldn't touch the silver handle.

"How was your day today?" asked Yukina politely.

"A demon got loose in the Ningenkai today," said Yusuke, shrugging, before beginning to shovel food at an incredible rate into his mouth. I had to wonder if he even chewed it. My head snapped up at the news and my eyes widened in surprise.

"Where?" I questioned sharply.

"Huh?" answered Yusuke, pausing in his eating to swallow and answer me.

"Where did the demon come from?"

"Uh…the Makai…"

"No," I snapped, irritated, "which _part_ of the Makai?"

"What?"

"Honestly, are you always so dense?" I growled. "The Makai has separated into a northern Makai and southern Makai; which one did the demon come from? Well?"

"The Makai separated?" spoke up Kuwabara.

My gaze flickered to him for a second before I answered, "Yes. Urameshi?"

"I…I don't know."

"How could you not know?" I said, the level of my voice rising.

"Emerald, why does it matter so much?" asked Kurama, making his way into the conversation. By now, everyone had paused in the eating to watch the interaction between me and Yusuke.

"It is a matter that is quite important to me. That is all that should concern you," I snarled, turning my anger on him. "Do you know, _Shuichi_?"

He shook his head and I furiously pushed my chair away from the table, ignoring the stares from everybody, and stormed out of the room and out of the temple. As soon as the fresh air hit my face I was immediately calmed. The outdoors seemed to do that to me. I turned around and slid the door closed before holding my hand in front of me and creating a portal.

I didn't really remember who I fed on, or how many people I fed on, but I knew as I walked away from the portal I'd exited from in the forest and towards Genkai's temple that I felt much better. I was also happy I'd finished all of my feeding before the sun had gone down. It was setting at this moment, but I didn't have to worry about the moon for another fifteen minutes at least. I sighed and broke through the trees to see the temple standing before me. I knew they were going to be angry with me, probably furious, but if they knew why I'd been so intent on knowing they'd understand. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to tell them the reason, either.

I boldly slid open the door and walked inside to see everyone seated around on couches and chairs, Hiei being perched on the window seat as usual. Their heads all turned to me at the same time and we stood there staring at each other for a few seconds before I moved into the room and slid the door shut behind me.

"You have something on your cheek," said Yusuke finally.  
Instead of retorting, I chose to completely ignore him and instead strode silently across the room and down the hallway towards my sleeping quarters. I slid the door closed behind me and then sat down on my futon, wiping my cheek with the sleeve of the dress I was still wearing. I looked at the substance that had come off and shrugged. It was just a bit of .

I was contemplating turning in for the night when a sharp knocking brought me back to reality. I glanced to my doorway and didn't see anyone. I thought I must've been hearing things until the knocking came again – louder this time. I realized it must be coming from the main entrance to the temple. Curious as to whom the new person was, I lifted myself off my bed and shuffled to the doorway and down the hallway. When I reached the main room I stood in the entryway and leaned against the wall, my eyelids feeling as though they weighed a few tons. The one who'd answered the door was Kurama, though I couldn't see who had knocked in the first place.

"Wow, Mister, you have really silly hair," said a high-pitched feminine voice, probably a child. The only problem was the child had a little lisp, so it came out sounding like a series of hisses.Kurama chuckled and replied, "Yes, but I've grown quite attached to it."

"Anyways, would ya like to buy some cookies?" she asked in that lisp.

I was curious about this little . Why would she come all the way up here to a temple completely cut off from the rest of the city, when she could simply walk around a neighborhood going door to door? I furrowed my eyebrows and pushed myself away from the wall, now more awake. I walked up behind Kurama, ignoring Hiei's eyes following me as he fought down his instincts for mating, and stood on my tiptoes to peer over Kurama's shoulder.

The child was no taller than four feet tall, and wore Barbie Velcro sneakers, jeans with an elastic waistband, and a red zip-up sweatshirt with the face of Tweedy Bird on the front. In her hands she held a box, probably filled with the cookies she was trying to sell. Her thin, light brown hair was in a loose, high ponytail, held up with a bow just as bright of a red as her sweatshirt. Ocean blue eyes twinkled up at me when she spotted me peering at her over Kurama's shoulder.

"I'm fine, but thank you anyway," answered Kurama, a little suspiciously. Apparently he was just realizing the oddness of a little coming to Genkai's completely unannounced. He was about to close the door when the child began speaking again.

"Hey, Miss! Whadda 'bout you? You wanna buy some cookies?" she asked, smiling. When she smiled I noticed her front two teeth were missing and two new ones were just barely poking through the skin.

Kurama turned around to face me and I felt a moment of panic, wondering what his actions were going to be with us standing so close together. When his gaze landed on me he nodded politely before his eyes widened the tiniest bit. His normally green eyes flickered gold for a second or two before they went back to normal and he turned to walk back into the main room, a distracted expression on his face. I looked back down to the child to see her still grinning at me.

"I'm sorry, but-"

"How 'bout I give ya a free one anyways," she interrupted, shoving something into my hands. I was about to give it back when I realized she hadn't given me a cookie, but a piece of paper. I blinked at it, confused, before looking back to the mysterious child. She grinned, her eyes flashing a pale orange, before giggling, "Well, gotta go!" Then she was skipping back down the stairs and out of my sight.

I gazed down at the paper in hand for another second before clenching my fist around it to hide it from view, sliding the door closed, and turning around to face the occupants of the main room. I nodded at them, my way of apologizing, before striding back to my room. When I opened the paper I saw it to be an envelope with a sticky note attached to it. The sticky note read:

_Lady Theda,  
This came for you from the toddler himself. Whatever it is, it seems important. If you can bring some friends, you know who to invite!_

__

I smirked, knowing from the sense of humor and handwriting that it was December who wrote it, and gazed at the envelope. In bold letters, right on the front, it addressed the recipient of the letter as "Lady Emerald Theda". I grunted and ripped open the envelope. A piece of stiff paper that was a rectangle four inches long and three inches wide fell out and onto my bed and the message stared back at me in extravagant letters.

**10th Anniversary of Team Urameshi**  
_Prince Koenma cordially invites you to attend the 10th anniversary of Team Urameshi at the Spirit World castle. The above mentioned event will take place on July 13 at five in the evening. It is a formal event, so please be aware that your choice of clothing must be appropriate._

I crushed the invitation into a ball and flicked it into the trashcan in the corner of my room, angered Koenma was too scared to contact me in person about an event happening the following day. If he had to rely on my soldiers to deliver a simple message to me, then the pacifier-sucker wasn't worth my time. Who cares what people would say about me if I didn't attend?

Okay, maybe I cared about their opinion a little bit, but my own anger and history with the prince was enough to make me hesitate about accepting the invitation. We went way back, and most of the history between us wasn't good history. Koenma and I had had many disagreements.

I lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, causing my eyelids to droop with sleepiness as soon as I did. Before I fell asleep, I couldn't help but think, _To hell with it; maybe I will go._


	8. A Night To Remember

**Chapter Seven**

I stood in a clearing, practicing throwing my dagger. Close combat was easy for me, but hitting a target from far away was more difficult. _Katanas_ were my specialty, not daggers.

I balanced my dagger on the tip of my finger, ignoring the burning sensation from the metal and, swinging my finger up so the dagger fell off, I caught the dagger's handle with the same hand. I breathed out in relief. The last time I'd tried that I'd used too much upward force and the dagger had fallen, coming dangerously close to severing one of my toes.

I grabbed the handle and looked for a target. I drew my hand back and then whipped the dagger at a tree, snapping my wrist to give it spin. I watched, breath held, as it spun handle over blade towards the target. The dagger brushed against the side of the tree and kept going. I growled, but realized that it didn't matter if I had aimed better because it had passed the tree with the handle forward, meaning if I had hit it it would've just bounced off anyway.

I breathed out, irritated, and flickered over to where I saw the dagger disappear. It took a few minutes of digging, but I finally found it lying on the ground under a bush. Muttering under my breath, I flickered back to the clearing. I closed one eye to better align the tree with the point of my dagger and was about to throw it when a teasing voice rudely interrupted me.

"You're horrible, you know that?"

"_MIERDA!_" I shouted in Spanish, whipping around and putting a hand to my pounding heart. She was getting better at sneaking around; I hadn't even known she was there. "Do you _want _me to die at a young age?"

"Of course not," spoke another voice right behind me.

"Destiny, December, would you two stop sneaking up on me?"

"But it's so much fun," pouted December, the one who'd so _nicely _commented on my dagger-throwing skills. She was leaning casually against tree with her arms crossed, hair in its usual luminescent ponytail. Destiny appeared from behind me to stand in front and a little to the side of her sister, arms crossed as well.

"Is there a point to this visit?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well, we have-"

"-a surprise-"

"-for you," the two finished at the same time.

I darted my eyes around, not one who was for surprises. Also, they never had relatively good surprises. It always ended up with the recipient covered in something, or hanging upside down. I guessed I was safe from those pranks since I was in a clearing where nothing could hang above me.

"But first…" started December. "You got my letter, right? I wasn't sure if Destiny would be able to handle the task."

"Hey!" cried her twin indignantly. "My shape-shifting abilities are excellent, thank you!"

"So you've said a thousand times before," sighed December, ignoring the glare her sister was directing towards her. "As I was saying, you're horrible with your dagger, you know that?"

There was a whining noise as the dagger flew through the air to land right next to her head, cutting a few strands of hair in the process. Her eyes widened and she backed hurriedly away from the tree, running her hands over her body just to make sure nothing was harmed. If December wasn't so scared she might've noticed her twin snickering, obviously believing that was payback enough for the comment she'd made about her.

"You could've killed me!" squeaked December, face turning a color that faintly resembled milk.

"Well, I didn't now, did I?" I asked, smirking. Destiny howled with laughter.

"I thought you didn't know how to throw a dagger," mumbled December, her cheeks flushing slightly with embarrassment.

"I don't," I replied simply.

"So you mean you just randomly threw a dagger at me without even knowing if it wasn't going to hit me?"

"If you want to put it that way, then yes."

"About our surprise," Destiny spoke up quickly, cutting off her sister before she could retort. She sent a warning look her way and December stopped what she was going to say, instead muttering something about 'short people and their egos'. Destiny stuck her forefinger and thumb into her mouth and blew, emitting a high whistling sound.

Immediately something barreled into my side, knocking me over with a surprised '_oof!'_. I coughed and tried to breath before realizing something was on me, preventing me from breathing normally. I opened my eyes to see Adoncia lying on top of me with her arms wrapped tightly around my waist. I touched her head affectionately before telling her to let me breath. She happily jumped off me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked worriedly in Spanish, now standing and brushing my backend off. The corners of my mouth were turned down in a frown, wondering if something had happened in the town that required my daughter to find me.

"I just wanted to see you! Can't a daughter see her mother?" questioned Adoncia indignantly, putting her hands on her waist. I had to keep from wincing at the word 'mother', the word bringing back too many memories of my own.

"You shouldn't be here," I scolded, though I was secretly happy to see her.

"Who said?"

"I did!"

"So?"

"Adoncia…" I growled warningly.

"Mo-ther…" she said back with just as much attitude.

I sighed and caved, rubbing my forehead. "Did Sonjay take you to feed while I was away? I meant to check up on you sooner…"

"Yes, yes," she said, as if the matter was no big deal. "He took me once every four days for two hours. I'm plenty full."

"Good."

"So, you're going to a party tonight?"

"Yes," I replied, frowning. I cast a stern and suspicious look towards the twins, but they just looked in opposite directions and began whistling. Somehow, someway, they must've told her about Koenma's invitation. I gave a little growl that faded into another sigh.

"Can I come?"

"No, you most definitely may not."

"Aw, come on. Please?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I said no."

"But I'll be careful!" she complained, widening her eyes, jutting out her lower lip, and clasping her hands in front of her pleadingly. This look had so many times gotten her what she wanted, and it was about to give it to her again.

"Fine," I snapped.

"Yes!"

"But December and Destiny will come with us and watch you the whole time."

"_Mo-ther, _I'm not a _baby._"

"If you want to have any chance of going, you will do exactly as I ask of you. Complain about the circumstances and you stay home. And don't try to escape from Destiny and December like you did with your last escort – I don't want them getting in trouble from _your _doings."

"What are we doing?" asked December.

"Try to realize we don't understand a word you're speaking," grinned Destiny.

"Yeah, isn't it enough that we know English _and _Japanese?"

"Really, Lady, just how much do you expect out of us?"

The twins grinned at me before high-fiveing each other as if what they'd said was the most brilliant and funniest thing in the world. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the tree my dagger was stuck in, jerking the blade out of trunk in one swift motion. I pulled my ponytail into two pieces and tugged them separate ways, tightening it, and then turned to the two sisters.

"You have earned the title of Adoncia's babysitter for Koenma's party."

"Thanks for the invite, but I'd rather not have to set eyes on that powderpuff," snorted Destiny, obviously sharing the same feelings about the prince that I did.

"My ass is a better ruler than he is," smirked December.

"Ah, but aren't we all?" I asked lightly. The twins chuckled while Adoncia stood by my side patiently, having no idea what we were saying.

"So, are you going to introduce us to your new friends?" asked December excitedly. Behind her I saw Destiny give a cough that sounded amazingly like 'loser'.

"I'm not sure if that's an intelligent thing to do," I replied, casting a meaningful glance downwards at Adoncia. She smiled brightly at me and continued holding onto the bottom of my shorts with one hand, a thing she did often when she was around me. She would grab a fistful of any material I was wearing and hang onto it. I thought it was more a comfort factor for her than a possessive one.

"Oh, come on, I really want to meet them," grinned December. She and Destiny exchanged mischievous smirks and I could only dream about what thoughts were running through their heads. I wasn't about to bet they were good ones.

"Must we?" I asked.

"You know we wouldn't do anything to agitate the spirit detectives and their companions," Destiny said ly. Then under her breath, "Yet."

"The last thing we need is those idiots…err…wonderful and exquisite people on our tails," December corrected herself. Destiny chuckled and I shook my head in exasperation.

"Follow me," I sighed, giving in once again. After all, it would be better if the Reikai Tantei met Adoncia and the two Dess's now instead of at the anniversary party. I looked down at Adoncia, who was clinging to my shorts tightly as ever, and just then noticed she had her bow and arrow. "Planning on attacking something?"

"What?" asked Adoncia, blinking up at me. I pointed to her bow and her mouth instantly made an 'O' shape. "Well, you told me you can never be too careful, right?"

"I'm glad you remembered _something_ from our training."

"Hey," she began defensively, "just because I couldn't tell you why it's better if an arrow head is triangular doesn't mean I wasn't listening."

I snorted and replied, "Of course."

Adoncia gave a noticeable huff and turned her eyes to the ground, intent on glaring at it instead of me. I spun my dagger on the tip of my finger as we walked, not caring that the metal was burning my skin ever so slowly. I was used to pain, so it didn't bother me as much as it might've someone else.

"Here we are," I muttered.

As Adoncia set eyes on the temple, she immediately began walking closer to me and clutched the fabric of my shorts so tightly her knuckles turned a brilliant shade of white. She didn't like to meet new people, afraid that they'd reject her as an outcast. I gazed down sympathetically at her and touched my fingers to her head as we kept walking. When her eyes rose to see my face, I was no longer looking at her.

I slid open the door to see things exactly as they were when I'd left before breakfast this morning. Yusuke and Kuwabara were intently playing videogames in their pajamas, which consisted of plaid boxers and no shirt for Yusuke, and boxers with different cats all over them and a white t-shirt for Kuwabara. Kurama was sitting in a chair, reading and chatting with Yukina at the same time, while Yukina sat next to Kuwabara on the couch, listening patiently as he bragged about how good he was at playing the games. Botan and Kayko were sitting on the floor playing card games and talking as well, every few seconds breaking out into giggles. Hiei was perched on the windowsill as usual, while Genkai was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello, Emerald," greeted Kurama and Yukina. No one else seemed to notice that I'd come back with three more people than I'd left with.

"Are you going to introduce us or are we going to have to do it ourselves?" asked December loudly, slipping into the room with Destiny after her. _That _got everybody's attention. Yusuke paused the video game, despite Kuwabara's cries of protest, to see who the strangers were.

Destiny sighed and said, "Great, you've scared them already."

"I didn't scare them!"

"Well, they don't look _happy_."

"Maybe that's because they set eyes on you!"

"Look whose talking."

"Oh, that's it!"

At which point December leaped at Destiny, knocking her over, and the two began wrestling. Everyone besides Adoncia, Hiei, and me watched in shock, while the three of us looked on in amusement. I'd seen them at it before – the littlest things set them at each other's throats. For example, one time they'd gotten into a brawl when they'd worn the same shirt, claiming that it was their own idea to wear it first. I sighed and cleared my throat, causing the two ladies to stop mid action. They had gotten standing somehow, though they were somewhat bent over. Destiny had December in a headlock, while December was holding Destiny's foot about four feet off the ground, stopped in the middle of trying to topple her sister over. Both immediately disentangled themselves.

Kuwabara was the first to talk.

"Are you-"

"You're not seeing double," interrupted the sisters simultaneously, brushing off their fighting outfits.

"I wasn't going to say that," he mumbled, slouching considerably in his seat.

"Oh, right, we should probably introduce ourselves. My name's December."

"Destiny. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," smiled Kurama warmly. "My name is Shuichi Minamino."

Both twins glanced at me quickly in confusion, knowing very well that his name was Kurama, and then looked back at him and offered identical grins. Everyone went around introducing themselves after that, clearly seeing the sisters as no threat. Kuwabara even stopped pouting and asked Destiny out, which she clearly rejected with a swift punch to his stomach. Hiei was the only one who didn't speak his name, so Kurama did so for him. I could see Hiei glare at Kurama in my peripheral vision.

"And what would your name be?" asked Kurama kindly, eyes landing on Adoncia. She immediately buried her face in my stomach, becoming shy and embarrassed at the attention directed towards her. I smiled fondly down at her and rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.

"This," I said, "is my daughter: Adoncia."

I looked up, bracing myself for the questions.

"Daughter? But you're so young!" gasped Kayko. I could hear the underlying question in her words; _How old were you when you had her?_

"I know," I said, perhaps a bit defensively.

"Who's the father?" asked Kurama quietly, though he seemed dazed as well. It wasn't surprising really, that information was a lot for people to take in. Not many people our age had children, let alone children as old as Adoncia.

As soon as Kurama mentioned Adoncia's father, I looked reluctantly up from my daughter and into the eyes of Kurama, a grim expression on my face. My eyes must've been reflecting the reluctance to pursue the topic because Kurama's features softened into those of pity. I looked back down at my daughter.

"I don't talk about him," I said after a few moments, the strong tone of my voice hiding what I was really feeling at the moment.

"Adoncia, you're being rude by not introducing yourself to these people," I murmured in Spanish, laying my hand on top of her head. Her head shifted and her onyx eyes gazed up at me, the fear of being rejected easy to detect. "They will not judge you."

I gave her a little push and she fearfully stumbled away from me, standing before Kurama. Quite suddenly she thrust her hand forward, gaze still focusing intently on the wooden floor. Kurama blinked a few times in surprise from the sudden gesture, before enveloping her tiny hand in his and shaking it. Adoncia blushed and bowed politely.

"_Mi nombre es Adoncia_," she mumbled shyly, introducing herself.

She went over to Kuwabara and, feeling more confident now that Kurama had been so nice, gave him a tiny smile. He smiled back goofily and she giggled, covering her mouth with her hand, before moving onto Yusuke. His reaction was more or less the same as Kuwabara's.

She introduced herself to the three ladies at the same time, all of which seemed to think Adoncia was, in their words, 'cute as a button'. I could tell Adoncia had no idea what they were saying, but she was overjoyed that they were talking to her, anyway. Adoncia giggled and gave each of them a hug.

Then she moved onto Hiei. I tensed and my eyes hardened, wanting to tell Adoncia to leave him alone, but realizing she wouldn't understand why. She'd just end up introducing herself anyway. When my daughter approached the windowsill, the fire demon made no move to acknowledge she was there.

"_Mi nombre es Adoncia_," Adoncia greeted happily, full out grinning by now. She stuck out her hand and continued adventurously, "_Es muy agradable encontrarle_."

There were a few tense moments, in which I clenched my fists tightly at Hiei's actions, and he finally glanced down at her while uttering a simple, "Hn."

Adoncia lowered her hand and gazed back at me, confusion written on her face. I knew she was wondering why all the others were so nice to her and Hiei was being cold and distant. I shrugged at her in a way that clearly said 'he's always like that', and she looked back up to Hiei with a determined expression on her face.

Before any one of us could stop her, or warn her, for that matter, Adoncia quickly jumped onto Hiei's lap and kissed him lightly on the cheek. She blushed and hopped off so quickly that Hiei didn't have a chance to push her off himself, afterwards looking up to him to see what his reaction would be. Hiei glared down at my daughter with such a ferocity I could practically feel the heat emanating from him, which actually wouldn't be that unlikely considering he's a fire demon. Adoncia stared back at him indifferently, showing him she wasn't afraid.

"Hn," said Hiei, quenching his anger and turning back to stare moodily out the window. As one everyone in the room let out a breath of relief. Adoncia, not realizing she had almost been decapitated by Hiei, skipped over to December and Destiny, grabbed their hands, and dragged them over to the other three women.

I walked away and into my bedroom, letting them get to know each other.

p align"center" ---

"You're going."

"But Lady!"

"You have to watch my daughter."

December muttered something under her breath, but didn't protest further. She knew as well as I assassins could be hidden anywhere, and I wasn't sure what would become of me if Adoncia left me like my family and friends while I lived in Mexico had. Adoncia and I were already dressed in casual kimonos, but the two Dess's seemed to be taking all the time in the world, not really caring if we were late or not.

I had put my hair into a half ponytail and, with the help of December, had managed to curl my hair in tight, one inch wide curls. Three small golden hoop earrings adorned the lower part of my right ear. I'd gotten my ear pierced awhile ago just to prove to Ethan I could. As usual, around my neck was my locket and tear gem. A simple golden bracelet was hanging loosely off my wrist. Koenma couldn't order to me change my outfit, but he wasn't going to be happy about it.

December and Destiny were dressed like gypsies, though their clothing was very scarce. I thought it was ridiculous, but they wanted to see what Koenma's reaction was going to be to their strange taste in clothes. He was going to be upset, but again he couldn't do anything to them without my consent.

"Could you be any slower?" I growled at the two women, who were taking their time pulling on their shoes. "The others have already left."

The Reikai Tantei and their companions had left over an hour ago, when it was quarter after four, dodging my question of where they were going. I actually knew perfectly well, considering the subject of the ball I was attending, but it couldn't do any harm to see if they would tell me the truth. They didn't exactly tell me the truth, but they didn't lie to me either, meaning that they didn't fully trust me yet. I couldn't really blame them, considering the circumstances in which we first met.

"I don't wanna see Koenma!" whined December.

"No one ever does," grumbled Destiny.

"Done," they both announced, standing up from my bed in Genkai's temple.

"Finally!" I shouted in exasperation. I focused my energy into my hand and then into making a portal, watching as the familiar blue disk began appearing, growing bigger as I poured more energy into it. When it was big enough I motioned the others through first, and then followed.

We appeared right in front of the entrance doors. Two guards stood on either side, looking as if they'd had a horrible time greeting every guest that had appeared there. My portal and lateness surprised them into pulling their guns on me. That wouldn't do much harm to me unless the bullets were human made, and I doubted they were. I stared them down until they put the guns away and opened the massive doors for me.

"Where do we go?" asked December, looking around.

"I don't know; how about where all the commotion is coming from?" replied Destiny sarcastically.

I walked forward before a fight could break out and opened the door across the hallway. It opened and we came into an expensive looking waiting area. The furniture didn't even look all that comfortable for how much it seemed to cost. Across the way there was another large door by which a blue ogre stood, adorned in a small loin cloth that covered an area I definitely did not want to see, holding a grand staff that was nearly as tall as him. I walked boldly over, head held high.

"L-Lady Theeduh?" asked the ogre nervously.

"Honestly, Jorge, you of all people should know how to pronounce my last name by now. I've seen you many times when I've come to talk to Koenma," I scolded lightly. He shivered and I sighed. "It's _Thay_-duh, Jorge."

"Ri-right. Would you like me to annow-announce you?"

Poor thing was scared of me. He must've seen me in one of my fights with the Prince. When we argued, things were not pretty.

"Please," I sighed, not really looking forward to it. "Make sure you announce Miss December and Destiny Tikai, as well as Lady Adoncia Theda before me." Under my breath I muttered, "I don't trust the three of them in this room alone."

Jorge nodded and opened the doors so he could walk through. I couldn't see around his massive figure, so I had no idea what the room looked like. All I heard was his voice echoing around the room. He slammed the bottom of his staff on the floor a couple of times until he received silence. When he was satisfied, he spoke.

"I would like to present to you at this time, Lady Adoncia Theda, Miss December Tikai, and Miss Destiny Tikai," Jorge's voice boomed as he stepped to the side and revealed to us the ballroom.

A massive staircase was the entrance to the ballroom, and it was extravagantly carpeted with the famous red carpet. Everyone's attention was on the three people who stood at the top, which was a lot of attention considering how many people were there, not being able to see me because I'd stepped back a few paces and out of their line of vision.

"He makes us sound like something he's trying to sell," muttered December, grinning. Adoncia stood between the two women as they walked into the ballroom, looking very odd in their outfits. When they reached the bottom they moved off to the side and joined the crowd around the stairs, waiting for me to come down. I took a deep, steadying breath.

Jorge boomed his staff again, silencing the few people who had started talking up again, and once again announced in his loud voice, "I would also like to present to you Lady and General of the Northern Makai: Lady Emerald Theda."

I took another quick breath and walked out onto the landing as everyone's eyes trained on me. They all clapped politely and I nodded to them in thanks. Smiling at people just wasn't my thing. There were round tables surrounding what I believed to be a rather large dance floor and it looked like food had already been served. I mentally grimaced when I realized just how late we were.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs everyone immediately when back to talking as if nothing had happened, though I could tell a lot of them were talking about me. I wasn't known to go out in public a lot, and most people didn't even know that the ruler of the Northern Makai was even a woman. It was a small price to pay for privacy, though.

"Lady, you're quite the popular one, aren't you?" grinned December. As soon as I stepped off the last step Adoncia's hand automatically gripped my shirt as she stared around with wide eyes, having never been to a party like this before.

"Now, where to sit?" murmured Destiny.

I looked up from my child to scan the tables closest to us. From what I could see each table held fifteen people, and none of the ones I could see had four empty seats. We might be able to sit if we split up, but I was intent on sitting together. If I had to, I would _politely _ask someone to remove themselves from a seat.

"Need a place to sit?"

I turned to see a Koenma, who looked about my age in his older form, standing a little to the side of us. He was wearing his usual royal outfit and I saw him grimace at the outfit I was wearing. It was hardly formal. When he spotted Destiny and December, it took all his willpower not to start shouting. Surprisingly, he was without his pacifier. I raised my eyebrows in surprise and glanced down as Adoncia once more buried her face into my stomach.

"If you have seats to spare," I said airily.

"As a matter of fact I do," replied Koenma, clearing his throat nervously. Our last fight was obviously still fresh in his mind.

He turned on his heel, causing his cape to flow outwards, and began weaving through the tables. I followed half-heartedly, while December and Destiny clearly showed their contempt for being here by gazing around with bored eyes. Adoncia had unburied her head from stomach so she could walk straight, though she did walk rather close to me as people turned their heads to watch us.

Koenma stopped at a table and motioned for us to sit down. Seated around the table were the famous Reikai Tantei, Yukina, Botan, Kayko, some brown-haired woman who, by her appearance, had all the signs of someone who had recently quit smoking, and a man who I knew all too well. I stared at the man and gave a nod to him that he returned just as curtly.

"Emerald, I'd like you to meet Team Urameshi," said Koenma, waving a hand at the four men. They just stared at me. "Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara."

"You didn't tell us you were the Lady of the Northern Makai!" shouted Yusuke.

"I didn't? Fancy that…" I trailed off nonchalantly. I took a seat next to the man and Adoncia quickly nabbed the seat next to mine. Destiny sat next to Adoncia and December sat next to Destiny.

"You met them and didn't tell them who you were?" asked Koenma in surprise, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't make a point of sharing my background with people I hardly know," I replied firmly, with a tone that I hoped expressed that I clearly didn't want to continue the topic any longer. I turned to the man sitting beside me. He had silver hair that was shaggy, and two pieces that were longer and came down by his ears, reminding me of Kurama's hair. His left eye was a pretty aquamarine, while his other was a very light brown. "How are you, Taku?"

"Very well, and you, Emerald?" replied the Lord of the Southern Makai, delicately cutting off a piece of his steak and sticking it into his mouth.

"Things have been better."

"Ah, I know what you mean."

I nodded and stole a steak from him. We'd arrived too late for us to order food of our own. He glared at me and I pointed to Adoncia, who was leaning back in her chair holding her stomach. He rolled his eyes and I began cutting the steak into tiny pieces. When I was done I picked up my plate and slid the pieces onto the plate sitting in front of Adoncia with the blade of the knife. She happily picked up her fork and began eating. Destiny and December merely picked flowers from the vase in the middle of the table – much to the displeasure of Koenma – and shape-shifted them into bowls of ice cream.

When Adoncia was done she dropped her fork lightly onto her plate and leaned back in her chair, eyeing the ice cream Destiny and December were shoveling into their mouths with interest. I stared up at the ceiling and ignored my aching stomach, quite aware that I hadn't had breakfast or lunch, and now it didn't look like I was about to eat dinner either. I sighed a little and placed my hands on my stomach, which had suddenly decided to rumble with hunger.

There was a clatter and I broke my staring contest with the chandelier to see what the commotion was. There was another plate on top of mine with every bit of food on it, and I looked behind me to see if a waiter had suddenly decided to serve me. I also wanted to ask him if he could bother to get food for my daughter and two friends as well, but when I turned around there was no one in sight.

I turned back to the table, thinking maybe I'd imagined it, when my eyes landed once again on the plate. I blinked and looked around, only to see there was no plate in front of Hiei, and he was staring straight at me. My gaze went from his empty spot, to my extra plate, and I immediately put two and two together. I was about to give the plate back when a voice cut through my thoughts.

_I'm not hungry, onna._

_  
_My eyes widened a little in surprise before I smirked and replied, _Right. I had forgotten you were a telepath. Thank you for the food, though I am sure I would have managed somehow._

_  
Hn. The noise of your stomach was becoming annoying._

_  
Your attitude is becoming annoying._

_  
_"Not to be rude, but who are you?" I asked the brown-haired woman as politely as I could, which must've not been all that polite because Taku pretended to choke on his steak to cover up a laugh.

She looked away from Kuwabara, who she'd been arguing with, and replied, "I'm Shizuru"-she jabbed a thumb at Kuwabara-"the idiot's older sister."

"Ah," I replied.

Silence.

"Men and their castles," muttered December randomly, though loud enough to make sure everyone heard. She stared at her empty dish and scowled. Koenma sent her a quick look and refrained from saying anything.

"I don't have a castle," defended Taku.

"Yes, you do," I shot back, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it's not a big one," he mumbled, poking at his steak moodily. Destiny snorted and then grinned when Taku turned to narrow his eyes at her.

"Koenma this is really boring," yawned December, stretching her hands above her head. Destiny nodded in agreement and laid her head in her arms on the table.

"Well, I'm sorry it's not up to your standards," scowled Koenma, pausing with his fork halfway to his mouth to glare at them. They smiled back good-naturedly.

"Is there going to be any music or dancing?" asked Destiny.

"Yes, there is _going _to be music and dancing," shouted Koenma, drawing the attention of the surrounding tables. He immediately blushed and hunched his shoulders, muttering things under his breath. Once he'd composed himself enough, he cleared his throat and said, "In fact, I think the music is supposed to start right about now."

No sooner than the words left his mouth than flowing music began floating around the room. I gazed around for the source of the tune and found none. I looked at Koenma with a grunt, knowing he took pleasure in showing off. I rolled my eyes. Men and their castles, _indeed._

_  
_"Care to dance?" asked Taku, standing from his chair and offering me his hand.

"I don't dance," I scowled.

"Well, not with someone else, but with me, surely?"

"You have an abnormally large ego."

"Only as big as your temper."

I glared at him before grumbling, "Fine, but only because you have the ability to declare war on the Northern Makai if I disagree."

"Fair enough," he replied, grinning in victory as I put my hand in his. We joined the steadily growing crowd on the massive dance floor. He placed his one hand on my waist and held my other up in the air as I delicately placed my free hand onto his shoulder.

"You know very well I despise dancing. The last time you asked me I gave you a black eye. There must be something you wanted to talk about away from everyone else," I said firmly, looking into his eyes as we began dancing around.

"As always, you prove to know much about the people who you associate with," sighed Taku, suddenly dipping me so I was practically parallel to the ground. When he lifted me back up his face grew serious. "The Rebels are becoming a larger threat. They've already captured a town in the Southern Makai and eliminated all the civilians."

"Why don't you take care of them then?" I asked.

"It isn't that simple. Whenever I send my men there, they either join the Rebels or are killed. I wi wasn't true that most of them have joined the Rebels instead of accepted like any person loyal to the Makai would."

He abruptly spun me outwards and then drew me in again so my back was to his front. It took a lot of self control to keep from mating with him right there on the dance floor. Being in heat definitely had its cons. Taku must've sensed what was off about me because he pressed a soft kiss teasingly to the back of my neck. I felt his lips smirking against my skin. In retaliation, I firmly ground the heel of my foot into his toe.

"Why haven't you asked for Koenma's assistance? Or mine, for that matter?" I questioned, shocked that all this had been going on without my knowing so.

"I didn't think they were that much of a threat," he replied with a sigh.

"Never underestimate your opponent," I scoffed as he spun me around so we were once again in the position we'd started in. He pulled me flush against him and looked defiantly into my eyes.

"I guess I've learned that now."

"You should have known it before."

"Anyway, I believe Koenma doesn't even know who the Rebels are in the first place, and it would take more time than we have to convince him to help us."

"But I have _told _him about the Rebels, about the trouble they're causing us. I told him that some people from the Makai had formed together because they were against the treaty we made with each other and then the treaty the two of us made with Koenma. The prince does not realize that this could very well affect him, too," I said angrily.

"If we need his assistance then, will he not give it to us?"

"I'm not sure. We no longer war against each other, but we're most definitely not allies like the two parts of the Makai are. I believe Koenma thinks that any problem that does not directly relate to him is something that he shouldn't have to deal with."

"But it will affect him! Is he too foolish to see that?"

"He might possibly be trying to convince himself that we will be able to take care of the Rebels ourselves. The thing I believe he doesn't realize is the Rebels are growing increasingly in size and our armies will be quickly overpowered if something is not done," I noted, furrowing my eyebrows in thought. "He has things at his disposal that could greatly tip the scale for either side; if he becomes our ally it's a sure thing we can overpower the Rebels. Sooner or later, we must ask him for help."

"All we need to do is convince him the cause is for the better," finished Taku grimly, mouth set in a firm line. The song ended and a relatively faster one replaced it. I thought it funny that Koenma had dance club-like music at a formal occasion. I tried to step away from Taku, but he held me firm.

"The song is over," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Will you dance another one with me?"

I looked around to see the younger people dancing together as if they were all in mating season, sliding their bodies against one another in a most informal way. I had to wonder what they acted like without their pristine suits and expensive dresses slowing them down.

"I would rather not," I muttered, pulling out of his grasp as Taku sighed in disappointment and winked at me once before going to find some single, young woman to use at his disposal instead.

I smirked and made my way back to the table, weaving in and out of the dancing guests. Once or twice I had to use force to make certain men leave me alone. Since most of them were demons, they could all sense if not smell that I was in heat. By the thirteenth time a handsome demon came up to me and attempted to seduce me I was angry, and it ended up with him lying on the floor in pain, holding his groin. That made me feel much better. Nothing like to calm oneself.

"You _attacked_ her?" I heard Koenma's voice exclaim, right before the table came into view and I sat down in my chair.

"Who attacked who?" I asked, glancing briefly at Adoncia, who'd slumped down in her chair and was laying her head on the armrest and yawning frequently. A few seconds later she was asleep.

"Hiei attacked you!" shouted Koenma, waving his hands in the air ecstatically.

I glanced to Hiei, who was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed and not seeming to care about what he did at all, then to Kuwabara and Yusuke who were stuffing their faces at an alarming rate, and then to Kurama who was finishing up his dinner calmly. The women were no where to be found, so I assumed they were off dancing to the atrocious song I had just left.

"What about it?" I asked, turning back to face Koenma, who was looking at me in disbelief. Then I realized what he was so worried about. "It's fine, I'm not going to arrest him."

"You can arrest him?" asked Yusuke in disbelief.

"Yes, I have the necessary power to do so," I replied. "Hiei committed two serious crimes by attacking me. If I chose to take him to court, he would be charged with assault and attempted ."

"Then how come whenever we kill a demon you don't arrest us?" questioned Kurama curiously, becoming interested in the subject we were talking about.

"Because Koenma"-I didn't bother to hide a glare towards him-"will not let me. Though, now that you mention it Kurama, I don't quite understand why. You're demons that come from the Makai after all, and I have every right to punish any wrongdoers without your Reikai Tantei them first. Every one of my demons are entitled to a trial in court, whether you think they deserve it or not."

"I, err, uh…" stuttered Koenma, looking nervous.

"I mean, it's not like I go around all the people that you send into the Northern Makai, nor does Taku make any attempt to do the same when they enter the Southern Makai. Your Reikai Tantei have entered the Makai a number of times without our permission to do so, giving Taku and I, if we wished, the right to execute them for trespassing and murdering on our _own _territory. You don't see me parading around Reikai eliminating anyone who as much as looks at me wrong," I finished viciously.

"I, uh, guess I could stop demons without your consent," mumbled Koenma.

I gave a fake smile and said sweetly, "I'm glad you see things my way."

"She has him wrapped around her finger," whispered Yusuke to Kuwabara.

"Maybe they like each other," replied Kuwabara just as quietly.

Yusuke hit him in the head and said, "You idiot, Koenma's too scared of her."

"Ladies," I said sternly, speaking to Yusuke and Kuwabara, who immediately turned to face me. "I know that women love to gossip, as you have proven to me, but they usually don't do it in the company of the person they are talking about, especially if they have extremely good hearing."

Kurama chuckled lightly as the gears in the two idiots' heads turned. I swear, if they were any slower I wouldn't even be able to call them human. I guessed they found out what I meant by my statement because they both called out indignantly, "Hey!"

"Be quiet! You'll wake her," I whispered furiously, jerking my head at my daughter's sleeping form.

"Jeeze, sorry," muttered Yusuke.

"Koenma, when is this over?" I asked, covering my mouth as I yawned. My lack of food was getting to me, and I was looking forward to winding down for the night.

"It ends at ten."

"And the time now…?"

"Quarter to ten," replied Koenma, checking his watch. I gave another yawn and leaned back in my chair, taking Adoncia's hair out of its bun so she could sleep more comfortably. She shifted slightly in her chair.

"Do you regret it?"

"Hm?" I asked, raising my eyes from daughter to see who the speaker was. Kurama's eyes were trained on me intently, lounging in his chair with his arms crossed.

"Do you regret having her?" he rephrased the question, eyes darting to my daughter.

I looked back down at her with my eyebrows furrowed. It was a difficult question for me to answer, because I wasn't sure I really had an answer. I just had a feeling about her that was a mixture of unwillingness and love.

"I don't regret having her, she is my child and I care for her, it was more the means of creating her that I regret and fear," I answered slowly, as if someone was going to jump out of no where and scream at me for my reply.

"I see," replied Kurama, leaning back in his chair and steepling his fingers in front of his face. I glanced at him curiously before beginning to absentmindedly run my hands through my daughter's hair, leaning my head against the back of the chair with my eyes closed. Surely a few moments of sleep couldn't hurt?

I jerked awake and stood abruptly from my chair, knocking it over in the process. My eyes were wide and I turned my head from side to side frantically, wondering what the cause of my pounding heart was. Nothing was out of order, no one was screaming, there wasn't a massive amount of people trying to escape from the room in a stampede. If there was nothing for me to be so worked up about, then why couldn't I calm down?

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Yusuke.

"Something is not right," I said, ignoring his question.

"Everything is fine," reassured Kurama. "You must've just had a bad dream."

"I did not dream," I growled, becoming increasingly annoyed that they didn't believe me. It was embarrassing to be portrayed as some babbling fool.

"Maybe you forgot the dream…?" put in Koenma. I glared at him and he gave a little yip before immediately staring down at his food.

I turned around and righted my chair before sitting back down, resting my head in my hands. I was being too paranoid about this. I probably had just heard the clank of somebody's fork against the plate and it woke me up and scared me. I sighed and pressed the base of my palms into my eyes, calming myself.

I straightened only to have the panic rush back to me. I gazed around and the whine of something moving through the air came to the attention of my sensitive ears. A flash of silver was all it took for my hand to react to its natural instincts and catch it. I felt pain, but it only caused me to clench the object tighter in my hand. I gave a quick cry of surprise and once again stood, waking my daughter in the process.

Everything went silent, even the music, as I looked down to see the object in my hand was a throwing dagger. My eyes widened and my eyes rose to meet Koenma's shocked gaze. Someone had tried to kill him. A shock of pain brought me back out of my daze and I winced. The large gash healed over and I let out a breath.

My shoulders started shaking in silent anger and I threw the dagger up in the air only to catch it the handle in my hand. I seethed as I whipped around to look for the assassin, for the person would've caused mass chaos if his plan had succeeded. I saw him crawling away in between tables, no one noticing him in their moment of shock. I hissed, feeling my fangs elongate to an inch and a half, their full length, and clenched the handle tighter in my hand.

"Don't," I commanded in a voice that sounded nothing like my own as the four spirit detectives stood from their seats and prepared to attack. "He's mine."

With a flick of my wrist the dagger went sailing through the air towards the criminal. It hit the table he was crawling past and stuck there with a loud _thunk. _He gave a little yelp and abandoned trying to sneak away, instead standing from the ground and beginning to run away from me.

I grinned, showing my fangs, and launched myself up and over ten tables. I landed on the far side of the table he was nearest, tipping it, and slid down the surface. Before my feet had a chance to connect with the ground again I pushed off and my body rocketed towards his. Right before I hit him, he turned around in surprise and I collided into his front, breaking a few of his ribs in the process. As we were falling I wrapped my legs around his waist and held his shoulders as I dug my fangs into his neck. He gave a cry as we hit the ground, driving my fangs further still. No more than two seconds later his body was lifeless under mine.

I licked my lips and stood, wiping the back of my hand over my mouth. My fangs slowly began shrinking to their half inch long size. I sighed in content and turned on my heel, walking back towards my table. I felt the eyes of over two hundred people follow me as I did. Maybe that hadn't been the best way to introduce myself to people as the Lady of the northern Makai. I smirked.

When I reached the table I stepped onto my chair and turned to face everyone, hands resting on my hips. I was amazed they hadn't panicked and ran for it the moment they saw me with the dagger, and I was vaguely thankful to them for that. It would've made things all the more complicated.

"I believe it is time for you all to go home, and I bid you goodnight," I announced loudly, projecting throughout the whole room. There was a murmuring and I watched as the ballroom emptied quickly, the guests eager to leave after what they'd seen. I saw Taku with a pretty woman attached to his arm and he grinned mischievously before joining the leaving crowd.

"That was so cool!" came Kuwabara's annoying voice from behind me. I glanced at him once before placing my foot on the back of the chair I was standing on and putting force onto it, tipping it over. I moved my other foot onto the back as it fell so I wouldn't topple off. I turned around, shoved my toes underneath the back of the fallen chair, and kicked upwards, righting it once again. When I was done Kuwabara gaped at me and exclaimed, "So was that!"

"Do you know how much that table cost me?" asked Koenma wearily, looking at the table that was now at an odd angle while barely glancing at the lifeless body. I shrugged, not really caring, and gave a little yawn. He sighed and muttered, "Now I have to buy a new one."

"Lady, that was wicked!"

"I don't know how you do it!"

The twins came bouncing up to me with broad grins on their faces; the other four women following less happily behind them after witnessing me kill. Their cheeks were flushed from dancing and they all repeatedly yawned. Adoncia had fallen back asleep in her chair and I picked her up in my arms.

"Koenma, would you mind if we stayed the night?"

He gave a weary sigh and rubbed his hands over his face. "No, I'll have someone show you to a spare room. How many rooms do you need?"

"Two should be fine."

"Very well, I'll have Botan show you to your rooms," said Koenma, nodding to Botan, who sighed, probably preferring lying down and falling asleep to showing four people she didn't like very much to their bedrooms.

She beckoned at us and we quickly followed behind her up the stairs, out of the room, down the hallway, up another flight of stairs, and down a corridor with an immense amount of doors. She walked for a little while before pointing at two rooms next to each other. Her eyes were barely open.

"The rest of us all sleep here, too. Except for Koenma that is," she told us with a tiny yawn. I nodded to her in thanks and she gave a sleepy smile in return.

Destiny and December walked happily into their room, looking forward to falling face first on comfortable beds, and I opened the door to the room next to them, spotting a single large bed. I pulled back the covers and gently lay Adoncia on top of it and slowly took off her shoes, trying not to wake her. Figuring that was comfortable enough sleepwear, I placed the covers back over her so they came up to her chin.

With a weary sigh I took the hair tie out of my hair and let the curls fall around my face. I stood on one foot as I tugged one slippers, throwing it to the floor afterwards, and then repeated the process for the other. I untied the top layer of my kimono and slipped it over my head, leaving on the slip underneath as nightwear.

I fell asleep to the sound of my daughter's breathing.


	9. Losing Control

**Chapter Eight  
**  
"Mama? Maaaamaaaa."

My eyes drowsily opened and I yawned, rubbing my eyes. I was bouncing up and down on the bed and I couldn't understand why until I looked up to see my daughter jumping and twirling on the springy surface. I gave a little growl of annoyance and pulled her ankle upwards. She fell over with a squeal of surprise and then rolled off the bed. I heard her connect with the ground with a loud _'thump'_.

"What was the reason for waking me up?"

"This room is magical!" she exclaimed, waving her hands in the air.

"How do you know this?"

"I needed knew clothes for today and all of the sudden, there they were!"

I tried to comprehend what she was telling me. My brain was still in sleep mode, so it took a few moments for the statement to register. I gave another yawn and kicked the covers off of me, sending a wave of cool air washing over my bare legs. I sighed, but at least I was more awake.

"Koenma takes pleasure in showing off. I'm most positive that anything you require will appear in the room," I replied.

I watched as Adoncia concentrated and a moment or two later a chocolate bar appeared in her hands. She grinned and would have taken a bite if it had not been for me plucking it out of her grasp. She frowned up at me and placed her hands on her hips in annoyance.

"You haven't had breakfast yet," I scolded.

Adoncia gave a huff before stomping out of the room and slamming the door behind her. I looked down at the chocolate I was holding in my hand and blinked. Great, now what was I supposed to do with it? I finally held up my hand and created a miniscule portal before chucking the candy inside, not knowing where I sent it and not really caring, for that matter.

Running a hand through my hair, which was by now more wavy than curly, I gave a yawn and stretched. I opened the curtains and smiled when the sun washed over my skin, then I turned and let my eyes wander around the room, not having examined it very thoroughly the night before. My gaze landed on a door and I curiously opened it, coming face to face with a very nice bathroom.

With a grin I shed my shirt and underthings before twisting the knob of the shower and stepping into its stream of cold water. After I had finished I stepped back out and dried off, concentrating on making a kimono appear. Koenma's castle was always kept at a very mild temperature, so I didn't have to worry about overheating. There was a sudden weight in my hand and I looked down to see myself clutching forest green cloth.

When I was dressed I opened the drawers to search for scissors. I must've searched through the whole bathroom before finding a pair. I looked in the mirror and calmly cut off a good portion of my hair so it now reached to the middle of my upper arm. I turned every which way in the mirror to make sure I'd made it even, and made a noise of amusement when I was satisfied.

I put the scissors back and picked up the strands of hair I'd cut off, throwing them casually into the waste basket. I walked back into my room and through the door to the hallway. I looked to my right and sniffed, then looked to my other side and repeated the process. When I sniffed left there had been the faint smell of breakfast items being made, so I shrugged and strode down the hallway in that direction.

Turns out I'd picked the right hallway because, after walking down a flight of stairs and along another hallway, I opened the double doors to a large cafeteria. Luckily, not too many people were about. Most, I guessed, either weren't awake yet or had already eaten. I ran a hand through my hair again, which was still in the process of drying, and walked over to the only filled table.

The Reikai Tantei watched me warily as I approached. They were in various stages of finishing their breakfast or, in Hiei's case, not eating at all. I glanced over their breakfast choice and snorted. Kurama was the only one who had picked anything that looked even remotely edible. The two bakas had settled for something that looked like it contained way too much sugar for their own good and you poured milk over.

"Do you have anything _desirable _to eat?"

"What would you like, Emerald-san?"

I had to suppress a wince at what Kurama had addressed me as and replied, "Fruit, vegetables, meat – anything other than what they're eating." I pointed a finger at Urameshi and Kuwabara's breakfast and scrunched by nose.

"Yes, they have interesting views on meals," chuckled Kurama.

I followed after Kurama as he walked towards the kitchen part of the cafeteria. He pushed open double swinging doors and I watched as he walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out an orange. He threw it to me and I deftly caught it, wondering if it was entirely necessary that he practically hurled it at me.

"You have good reflexes," mused Kurama.

"So, that was a test, was it?"

"In all honesty, yes."

"May I inquire why?"

"Just curious."

I raised an eyebrow and followed him back out of the kitchen and into the cafeteria. I sat Indian style on the table neighboring the Reikai Tantei, not seeing it necessary for me to join them, yet at the same time necessary to be at least remotely near them.

I poked a sharp nail into the orange and rotated it a full 360 degrees, effectively cutting off the tough skin in two pieces. I set them besides my knee and pulled apart the orange into its nine pieces. I quickly devoured it, lapping the juice off of my fingers. The Reikai Tantei made no move to engage me in their conversation, and I was more than content with that.

"Hey, guys, guess what?" piped up Kuwabara excitedly. "I was getting dressed in my room this morning, and all of the sudden, a chocolate bar came out of nowhere and hit me in the head!"

I grinned and suppressed a chuckle.

"Something funny?" asked Yusuke rudely. I gazed up at him innocently and shook my head from side to side. He glared at me before turning back to Kuwabara to argue about who was better at playing video games. Guess he didn't like me very much.

I held my hand palm up and once again created a miniscule portal, though this time I knew where it was going. I watched as Kuwabara stopped midsentence and looked around, wondering where the sudden source of spirit energy had come from. I remembered he had a high spiritual awareness. He spotted me and his eyes widened.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Watch," I smirked.

I picked up the orange peel and threw it into the portal. I clenched my fist and the swirling mass disappeared in thin air. I pointed to the waste basket on the other side of the room and everyone watched as a portal the same size that I'd created before opened above it and dropped the skin inside.

"You have spirit energy?" asked Kurama.  
"Yes, though it's somewhat limited at the moment."

"If you're not living, how is that possible?"

I winced at how blunt he was and explained, "My soul is technically split into two parts. The one half is my race, and that half is the non-living one. The non-living half is my demon side, which is technically part of my race, yet not. My race has a close bond with nature – basically everything that has spirit energy – simply because that is what we control. These two halves make up my soul when put together."

"Huh?" asked Kuwabara.

I grinned. "To put it simply, I am both alive and dead."

"Ohhh…"

"The dead half of my soul is what forces me to drink the blood of others. For some reason, it is what also makes my race better at manipulating their spirit energy. I haven't trained much in the ways of spirit energy, which is why I can, at this moment, only do very minor things."

"You train yourself?"

"Very much so. I don't take kindly to people telling me what to do, nor do I take kindly to people wanting to train _with _me. I feel if I train with someone, one of us is going to be angered in the end, and I don't react well to anger."

I placed my feet on the bench for my table and leaned back on my hands, wondering if they were through with interrogating me. I watched as they exchanged looks and then stared back at me. I raised an eyebrow in question, and then sighed. If they were through, I had a question of my own.

"Is it possible one of you could point me in the direction of the little one's office? I'm afraid I haven't had to find my way there from here before, and am quite sure I would get fairly lost if I tried."

"Couldn't you just make a portal?" asked Yusuke, rolling his eyes.

I stared at him and my impassive eyes slowly melted into an irritated glare. "I'm afraid I have neither the willpower nor energy to create a portal of that size. And before you question my strength, Detective, I wonder if you have ever created a portal of your own after already creating two in no less than two hours, and having quite a busy night the day before."

His silence was more than enough to give me my answer.

I gazed around amusedly at the Reikai Tantei as they had a quick mental conversation. From what I could tell, Kuwabara and Yusuke were refusing to go, and Kurama didn't want to leave Hiei alone with them in case the fire demon took it upon himself to end the lives of the two bakas. Alright, I admit, I might've snuck into their conversation without them knowing. I was quite proud of myself for not being detected.

Hiei abruptly stood from the table, glaring fiercely at Kurama, before stalking off towards the door that led to the hallway. I blinked and looked to the fox for an explanation, receiving a polite smile in return. I sighed and pushed myself off the table, walking calmly over to the exit.

I could hear Kuwabara mutter something that sounded amazingly like 'Good luck' as I pulled open the door. I slipped outside and quietly closed the door behind me, gazing down the hallway as I did. There was no sign of the fire demon and I blinked once before choosing a random direction and beginning to walk.

"You're going the wrong way."

I jumped and whirled around, coming face to face with a black shirt. I immediately backed up one step in surprise and nearly succeeded in falling over. My stare rose to meet familiar crimson eyes, looking similar to wine trapped behind a sheet of glass. His demeanor was just as icy as his gaze. His eyes went slightly dull for a moment, as if he'd been knocked unconscious, and then he shook his head and they went back to normal.

I backed up another step.

The brief flashing in his eyes told me everything I needed to know and more, and I momentarily panicked. Hiei was in his mating season, so now not only did I have to strive to control my urges, but now he had to try even harder to control his. I walked past him, making sure I practically hugged the wall so as to not touch him. He caught up to me and kept pace.

I don't remember how many stairs I hauled myself up or how many hallways I walked down, but by the time I finally reached Koenma's office, I was slightly out of breath. I knocked on the doors and received no answer. Not like that mattered, I was going to go into the office whether he wanted me to or not.

I smirked at Hiei. "Wish me luck."

His reply was a steady stare and then turning swiftly on his heel and striding down the hallway. I blinked and shrugged, pushing open the massive doors. Inside there were ogres bustling about everywhere, sorting through files and rushing past one another. It wasn't necessarily a panicked atmosphere, but I could tell it was getting there. The only thing that ever put them into a panic like this was the toddler himself, so I could only guess what he was fretting about now.

I slipped in between two ogres who were arguing over whether the file one of them was holding was the one they needed, and calmly walked over to Koenma's desk, which just happened to be all the way on the other side of the enormous room. I jumped onto his desk to try to catch his attention, though succeeding in nothing since my feet were bare and I was quiet as a cat, plus Koenma was too engrossed in the papers he was furiously stamping. He was in his baby form.

"Koenma," I said emotionlessly.

His stamp paused halfway to the table and he quickly looked up at me, hat halfway off his head. He set down his stamp and turned into his older form with a quick '_pop_'. I raised an eyebrow and stepped backwards off his desk, crossing my arms.

"We need to talk," I said firmly.

"About what?" he squeaked.

"The attempt on your life last night."

"That assassin wasn't out to get me, Emerald. He must've been aiming for you and thrown it a little too far to the side," replied Koenma nervously, wringing his hands together. If he had soap he would've been all set to wash them.

"You know as well as I that that's not true."

"The Rebels have a problem with you, Emerald, not with me. There's no reason they would come after me if I'm not involved."

"But you are!" I growled, slamming my hands down on his desk. "Koenma, you are not fully grasping the situation at hand. Taku and I were discussing matters last night, and we both agree that the Rebels do in fact have a motive for ending your life. Without you, things would be thrown into chaos, weakening the security on the Spirit World vault. There are items in that vault that could tip the scale in their favor."

"You're overreacting."

I gave a true growl and straightened. He kept his lips in a firm line and I knew I needed someone else there to back me up in this discussion. I abruptly clapped my hands together and then brought them apart with the palms still facing each other. A green strip of energy connected the two palms together.

"Taku, get your _asno _over here," I hissed. When I was done I squished the energy back into inexistence between my two hands so it looked like I was praying, and then dropped my hands back to my sides in tightly clenched fists.

A few seconds later a portal appeared and Taku stepped out. He looked back and forth between the two of us and sighed, coming to stand next to me with his hands shoved into his pants pockets. Koenma raised an eyebrow at him and leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of his face.

I growled and threw an annoyed look at Taku, who sighed again. I glared at Koenma one last time before abruptly jumping upwards and twisting in the air so my feet connected with the ceiling. I stayed in place and looked above my head, or technically below since I was upside down, and saw Taku and Koenma beginning to converse between themselves.

My hair, unlike the rest of my body, was pulled towards the ground by gravity, getting it off of my neck. I crossed my arms and began pacing back and forth, not bothering to listen to the two rulers below me, knowing that it was basically just Taku convincing Koenma that I was telling the truth.

After I'd been walking back and forth on the ceiling for at least fifteen minutes, a particular snippet of what they were saying drifted up towards my ears and caused me to stop in my tracks.

"Well, then," announced Koenma, "I guess you'll just have to hide out in the Ningenkai until we dispose of the Rebels. Going back to the Makai is too dangerous and you can't stay in Reikai forever."

"What?" I growled, jumping off the ceiling and once again twisting so my feet landed on the floor instead of my head. Just because half of my soul wasn't living, didn't mean it wasn't possible for me to feel pain.

"It's for the better," said Koenma.

"I refuse to live in the Ningenkai and hide like a _cobarde_," I spat, angry that he'd even suggested such a ridiculous idea.

"You lived there for a month when guarding Genkai's temple."

I glared fiercely. "That is different."

"Even so, I still think it would be for the better. Ningenkai isn't exactly the safest place, but it's safer than the Makai."

"_Idiota_, you are in as much danger as we are. The Rebels are after you as well, so why is it you are not joining us? You cannot possibly think that you will be safe here."

"I'm not safe, but I'm safer than you would be in the Makai. Plus, I can't just leave like you can. The Reikai is a mess without someone to rule it, while the Makai almost governs itself. In all reality, I'm surprised the northern and southern Makai even need rulers."

"Watch it," Taku and I growled warningly.

Koenma held up his hands in defense and I turned so I was leaning the small of my back against his desk, arms crossed. I made sure I leaned close to the corner so I could still see Koenma. It was then I noticed the Reikai Tantei standing a little off to the side, all staring at the three of us.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded coldly.

"We came to talk to the toddler," snapped Yusuke. I raised an eyebrow and turned my head slightly to look at Koenma, who gave me an expression that basically pleaded with me not to blame him for Yusuke's behavior. I turned back around.

"I am pleasured to say that he is not available at the moment," I replied.

"Well, could you hurry up?"

"No, Urameshi, I am afraid we have important matters to discuss. Not trivial things such as the pathetic adventures you call missions. There is no need for you to be here, so I _politely _inquire that you leave before I am forced to help you."

"I'd prefer not to."

"Oh, honestly," I replied exasperatedly. I pushed myself off the desk and walked up to him. Without quite looking at his face I grabbed a fistful of the shirt he was wearing and pulled him over to the door. He had to bend over so he didn't fall flat on his face. I was slightly disappointed. That would've been amusing.

"Hey, lady, what do you think you're doing?" he shouted. He ripped his shirt out of my grasp and I turned around to face him, crossing my arms as usual. "You can't throw me out."

"First of all, I can – both physically and legally. Second of all, I was not actually going to _throw _you out. I prefer calling it a light shove." I spoke calmly, no facial expressions showing.

I opened the door and indicated for him to walk through. He did so, however unwilling, glaring at me the whole time. The rest trailed after him, Kuwabara looking just as confused as ever and Kurama giving me an apologetic smile. I shut the door behind them, and then walked back over to Koenma's desk.

"Koenma, when do you have the authority to send us _anywhere_?" asked Taku, sounding irritated.

"I don't," replied Koenma matter-of-factly, "but you have to agree that the Ningenkai would be the safest place for you to be at this point in time."

"Where would we reside?" questioned Taku, still trying to get out of going to the human world. I couldn't blame him; I would rather face the Rebels of the Makai or stay in the Reikai and have to deal with Koenma than live with _ningens_.

"I'm sure I could ask Yusuke, Kurama, or Kuwabara to let you into their homes."

"I refuse to stay with a male," I growled.

"Fine," shot back Koenma, "then you can stay with Yukimura, Kayko."

"Who would I be staying with?" sighed Taku, rubbing his face with his hand and falling wearily into a chair. I glanced at him before turning my fierce glare to the ground, knowing that if Taku gave in then I'd have to agree to Koenma's proposal as well.

"One moment," replied Koenma, sounding happier now that he'd won the debate. Then louder, "You can come in now!"

It took a maximum of two seconds for the Reikai Tantei to open the door, walk across the room, and wonder what Koenma needed them for. Yusuke and Kuwabara sat lazily down on the couch, Kurama stood politely next to me with his hands in his pockets, and Hiei stood on the other side of Kurama with his arms crossed and expression emotionless.

"Yes, Koenma-sama?" asked Kurama politely. I smirked at his words and exchanged a look with Taku, who wore the same expression as I did. We both agreed that Koenma didn't deserve much respect from us.

"I need one of you to open your home to Taku. Him and Emerald will be living in the Ningenkai until we feel it's safe for them to return to the Makai," announced Koenma, looking from one to the other. I rolled my eyes and turned on my heel, heading for the door. "Where are you going?"

"To either train or tell Yukimura that she will be inviting me into her home, whether her parents approve or not," I barked back, wrenching open the massive door before Koenma or Taku could call me back.

I left the room as Yusuke shouted, "_NANI?!_"

When I was a good distance down the hallway I created a portal to the hallway my room was in and began searching for the door. I wasn't sure which door my room was in, so I didn't want to risk making a portal to somewhere I didn't know. There was a long stretch of wall that didn't contain a door, and I finally found the reason why when I reached metal double doors. I raised an eyebrow and pushed open one side with my shoulder, hesitant about touching the metal even though I knew it couldn't have been made by humans.

It was a training room.

Now both my eyebrows were raised in surprise as I looked around at a massive training room. It greatly resembled a dojo used for martial arts, so it was easy to assume it was a training room. Plus there was a ring in the center, punching bags, weapons to train with, and equipment. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed this on my way to my room last night.

I shrugged it off and walked over to the weapons, grabbing a sword off the wall. I put my finger on the blade, right against the hilt, and balanced the sword. I was impressed when neither side dipped lower. It must've been very well made to be that well balanced. I put it back where I'd gotten it from.

I padded over to the punching bag and lightly punched it, causing it to jump slightly on its chain, but other than that stay practically still. I had trained in another training room somewhere in Koenma's castle a different time and had hit the punching bag too hard, completely ruining it. Koenma had badgered me about that for awhile.

I punched it a little harder and it swung on the chain. I had to concentrate to not get too out of control, or I'd end up ruining this one, too. I quickly punched it twice in a row and grinned. I was good at keeping in control.

"That was pathetic."

There goes my self control.

I glanced indifferently over my shoulder to where Hiei was standing in the doorway and turned back to the punching bag. I delivered a swift roundhouse kick and the punching bag flew off the chain and skidded across the floor. So much for avoiding a lecture from the toddler about destroying his property.

"Better?" I asked, walking over to the weapon rack again. I picked up a wooden pole that was only slightly shorter than I was.

"Fight with me."

"_Gracias_, but no," I replied, twirling the pole around so it greatly resembled a fast-moving windmill. I lifted it over my head, still spinning, and then abruptly lowered it and jabbed it underneath my armpit. There come a grunt from behind me and I turned around at the same time I brought down the pole onto Hiei's back. When he hit the floor I placed the end of the pole calmly against the base of his neck. "I believe I told you that I did not wish to fight."

"Hn," he grunted bitterly. I removed the pole from his body.

"You are most lucky that I had not decided to strike higher than your stomach, otherwise you would be lying on the floor with a broken rib or two instead of a bruise."

I turned around, ignoring my mating instincts, and walked back over to the weapon rack so I could put the pole away. There was no way I could stay in the same room as Hiei while we were alone and contain myself. Training could wait until a more appropriate time.

I placed the pole back and walked along the opposite side of the ring than I had left Hiei to the exit, staying very close to the wall. There was the soft sound of hurried footsteps and I was crushed into the wall. I let out a cry of pain as my ribs threatened to break under the strain and realized that whatever had hit me had now backed up. I looked up to see Hiei.

My eyes immediately widened and I was about to step to the side when there was a sharp pain in my stomach and I quickly looked down to see the point of a katana placed there, my sudden movement having cut a hole in my kimono and skin, drawing blood. In my confusion and panic I couldn't concentrate enough to heal the open wound.

I looked back up to see Hiei's eyes trained on the red liquid that was starting to soak a small patch of my kimono. If I remembered a passage I read in a book correctly, male demons had a particular infatuation with a female's blood if they were in mating season or if she was in heat. Or both. In that case, I had absolutely horrible luck. I knew that the statement was true when Hiei's grip on his katana went limp and it clattered to the floor.

I rubbed my bruised side, praying that he had just been surprised that he had injured me, and tried to step away from the wall. Before I had taken two steps I was crushed against it once more. I gasped and something warm met my lips, almost ripping down the barrier I had put up around my urges while I was in heat.

A whimper escaped my mouth as Hiei pushed harder against my lips, practically bruising them. His eyes shot open at the noise and he backed away from me quickly, having regained control over his instincts for the moment, tripping over his own katana in the process. If it had been a different situation I'm pretty sure I would've found that amusing. At the time being, I counted it as a blessing. I quickly pushed away from the wall and bolted for the door, knowing I didn't have enough time to create a portal.

Something wrapped around my ankle and I immediately lost my balance, toppling over and falling to the ground. I kicked at Hiei's hand desperately, but his grip only tightened as he quickly crawled on top of me. He held my wrists at my sides and straddled my waist as I twisted beneath him.

"_Tasukete_ Help! _Ayuda!_" I pleaded in the three languages I knew. My voice fell on deaf ears and I instead tried begging with Hiei, switching from one language to another in my panic. "_Tomare! Parada!_ Stop! _Por favor,_ Hiei, _por favor._"

His lips met mine for the second time and I struggled before a classic idea came to mind. I reluctantly kissed back and his grasp on my wrists slackened in both surprise and eagerness. With a speed I didn't know I possessed I fiercely pushed him off of me and stumbled to my feet, once again making for the door.

Through all of this I didn't cry once, because it wasn't fear that I felt, it was panic. I had a feeling I couldn't cry if I tried to, I hadn't cried in so long. The last time I cried was eight years ago when Adoncia was conceived. Right now, I felt like crying, but I knew the tears wouldn't come.

There was a sudden burst of what felt like flames in the pit of my stomach and I doubled over panting, trying to fight the urges that were practically screaming at me to mate. I clutched my stomach tighter and closed my eyes, wishing for it all to go away. It faded away after a few seconds and I kept one hand pressed to my stomach just in case the heat decided to come back, stumbling towards the door.

My hand was on the handle of the door when I was once more pushed up against the surface. I bit my lip to keep from crying out again when the handle hit my hip bone. I was twirled around so my back was now against the door and my eyes met wine-colored ones. The handle dug into the small of my back as I was pushed against the door harder.

Hiei and I stood staring at one another for a few moments, his fist clutching the material of my collar, until I felt my resolve finally break down. He lowered his head to mine and everything went black.


	10. The Silver Fox

**Chapter Nine**

I shifted in my sleep and yawned, stretching my arms above my head. There was a feeling in my stomach that sent a joyous feeling throughout my whole body. For once in my life, I could use the term giddy to describe what I was feeling. It bubbled up in me and a smile made its way to my lips. With a sensation like that, it was hard not to.

I paused mid-stretch and my eyes opened, the smile dropping off my face as soon as it had come. This wasn't my room. The giddy feeling vanished completely and raw panic took over me. My breaths became shallower as I turned my head to see Hiei sleeping on the other side of the large bed, sheets only covering his lower half and revealing to me his bare chest. It was only then I noticed I had no clothes on.

With a gasp I scrambled out of the bed and backed up into the wall, still staring at the sleeping form on the black bed. I slid down on the wall with my arms drawn in to my chest, eyes wide.

The air was still hot from Hiei's flames from last night. Just like in the training room, flames had been born in midair and such only to wink out a minute later, catching nothing on fire. The room, as of now, must have been eighty degrees easy. I shoved my palms into my eyes, willing this to be a dream. I opened my eyes to find out that this was only too real.

Did he mark me?

I reached up my hand to my collarbone to see if I was officially Hiei's mate, and abruptly stopped before my fingers made contact. The longer I put it off the longer I had to convince myself that we hadn't marked each other. Right now, I didn't want to know. I'd rather lead myself to believe that all we'd done is slept with each other, even though I knew the chances of that only happening were slim to none.

My eyes scanned the room and landed on my discarded dark green kimono. I crawled over to it and slipped my arms through the sleeves, wrapping it around my body as I shivered. Despite the heat, my teeth chattered together. I held it in place as I picked up Hiei's black shirt and threw it to the side, picking up my obi from where it'd be lying beneath it. I tied my kimono and stood.

With calmness I didn't know I possessed, I slipped out the door and walked down the hallway into the personal kitchen, which was on the other side of the castle than the cafeteria. I pushed my hair so it fell forwards over my shoulders in an attempt to hide, if there was one, the mark. A glance out the window told me it was late afternoon. I must've slept no more than a few hours.

I pushed open the kitchen door and stopped in the doorway when my eyes landed on Kurama sitting at the wooden table sipping tea and reading a book. He looked up at the noise and greeted me with a polite smile. I saw his expression falter slightly and his changed slightly to a mixture of shock and confusion. It was barely noticeable, but I caught it. I didn't want to think about what caused that reaction.

I walked over and opened the freezer, eagerly pulling out a plastic plate with strips of raw bacon on it. I looked around for some salt and my eyes landed on the little glass bottle in the middle of the table Kurama was sitting at and I hesitated a moment before walking closer and swiping it quickly off the surface. I tapped it over the bacon strips and then put it back on the table, walking over to the kitchen counter. I hopped up on its surface and sat Indian style, placing the strips of bacon next to me. I picked up a strip and ripped off a bite, chewing it up.

"Good morning, Theda-sama," greeted Kurama, not raising his eyes from his book as he took another sip of tea. "How is your stay in the castle?"

I choked lightly on the piece of bacon I was chewing it and quickly composed myself by swallowing it. Kurama raised an eyebrow at me suspiciously and I met his gaze briefly before bringing it back to my bacon strip, biting off a large piece.

"Nothing particularly interesting. I found the training room," I said after swallowing. He nodded, not looking all too convinced. I hastily shoved the rest of the bacon strip in my mouth with a scowl.

There was a silence in which Kurama went back to sipping tea and reading his book while I acted like a human vacuum and finished off the ten strips of salted bacon. When I was done I opened the door that hid the trash can underneath the counter with my toe and slid the trash can out. I dropped the plate inside and close it back up.

I sighed and jumped off the counter, finding a glass and filling it with water. I chugged the entire thing and then placed it back on the counter, wiping the back of my hand over my mouth. My tongue ran over my fangs and I did a mental calculation of when the next time I would need to feed would be. Within the next few days should be safe enough. There was a sudden clatter and I jumped.

"Get out," commanded a hoarse voice.

I turned on my bare feet and furrowed my eyebrows at Kurama. His teacup was lying sideways on the saucer and was emptying itself of the tea all over the table. His book was lying discarded on the floor. He was holding his head in his hands with his elbows on the table. I'm not sure if he realized it, but he was muttering furiously to someone who wasn't there.

"Kurama?" I questioned. I moved closer to place a hand on his shoulder, but he jerked and moved away, clutching his head tighter and doubling over in his chair.

"Don't! Get out!" he shouted, his voice cracking.

"I am not about to abandon you while you are in this present state. It would be wise if I took you to the infirmary," I soothed, lying a hand lightly on his shoulder. He flinched, but made no move to get away from me. The muttering persisted. "Kurama…"

"Go!" he shouted, whirling around so he was facing me. I drew my hand quickly away and stepped away, surprised by the change in his eye color. They were no longer their calming green, but instead a deep amber.

"_Dios mio_, Kurama, what is happening to you?" I breathed.

His eyes flashed green for a second, in which they pleaded one last time with me, and then quickly went back to that chilling golden color. Before my eyes his striking red hair grew and turned a startling silver color. Two fox ears appeared on his head, and his facial features shifted slightly. He stood and I noticed he was taller than Kurama as well. Kurama's normal red outfit was replaced by a white outfit that greatly resembled an altered toga. A silver fox tail appeared as it moved to wrap around my waist.

I stumbled backwards to avoid the appendage, knocking into a chair, and my back met the counter. I had no idea what had just happened, but it was definitely not normal. I'd never seen such a change happen except in shape-shifters, and Kurama didn't send out the normal energy a shape-shifter had. There must've been some other explanation.

"Who are you?" I managed to get out.

I blinked and I was staring into the white fabric the _kitsune_ had been wearing. I tried to back up a step, but the sharp edge of the marble counter dug into my back instead. I brought up my hands to shove the stranger away, but he deftly caught my wrists with a vice-like grip. I struggled and then lifted my eyes to glare at him. He grinned slyly back at me, causing my glare to deepen.

"Who are you?" I spat.

"Forgive me," apologized the stranger with a smirk. "Name is Youko Kurama."

"Kurama? But that's-"

"The human's name; I know," he interrupted coolly. "I'm a spirit fox."

My eyes widened. I'd heard of such things before, but I'd never actually encountered a situation like this. It was fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Terrifying in the sense there was more than playful ideas in his actions. I tried bringing my knee up to thrust into his groin, but I was pressed too tightly between his body and the counter to move much of anything.

"Let me go," I growled, trying to twist my wrists out of his grip.

"Why?" he asked with a grin. "I'm having fun."

I glared up at him and moved my glare to his chest, perfectly aware to what he was hinting to me. I stopped struggling and I could basically feel him smirk down at me. A true growl escaped my throat and my eyes snapped up angrily to meet his when I felt his tail brushing my leg on the inside of my kimono.

"Don't," I snarled.

"That could mean many things, kitten," he sighed. "It could mean you don't want me to stop, for instance." I was silent, trying to dissuade him from doing anything. The bad part was that he took my silence as a positive sign. "So I should continue," he announced to me.

He released my wrists and I smirked, thinking he was letting me go. My thoughts were cut off when he grabbed my shoulders and crushed my lips with his. I struggled to get away, my urges already met by last night with Hiei, but he persisted. I weakly tried pushing him away as he trailed kisses down to my collarbone. He paused with his lips to my skin and he chuckled lightly. He sniffed once and stood straight, smirking down on me while keeping a firm grip on my shoulders.

"I told Kurama we should mark you before somebody else did," he said. He brushed the hair off my shoulder and touched his cold fingertips to the skin on my collarbone. "It looks like Hiei beat us to it."

My eyes widened and my hand shot up to my collarbone, where I felt a slight bump about the size of a quarter and two little holes. My body went rigid in shock and my vision blurred. I blinked once to try to clear my vision, but nothing happened. A few seconds later a dark blanket covered my eyes and I slumped into Youko's chest.

* * *

"What did Youko do to her, Kurama?" shouted Yusuke in surprise.

"He says he did nothing to cause her to faint," replied Kurama calmly.

A few minutes ago Kurama had opened his eyes to see Emerald leaning limply against him. He immediately grabbed her arm to keep her from falling and then put his arms under her legs and lifted her off the ground, carrying her bridle-style. Anger towards the kitsune residing inside him bubbled up as he walked down the hallway towards the living room.

_I did nothing to the female, human, _muttered Youko.

_Then why is she unconscious? _cried Kurama in exasperation.

_Alright, I might've fooled around a little bit…  
_

_What!  
_

_That's not the reason she fainted.  
_

_Then what is, Youko?  
_

_I commented on her mate, _replied the kitsune in a bored tone.

Kurama stopped walking in surprise and nearly dropped Emerald. There were many things that he had expected the spirit inside him to say, but that had definitely not been one of them. It's not that Emerald wasn't desirable physically, but her personality was a little on the lacking side.

_WHAT! _spluttered Kurama.

_I think her and the fire demon make a lovely couple.  
_

_Hiei!  
_

Kurama looked down to Emerald and saw that Youko was right. She did have the mark in which a demon claimed her as his. Now, when he thought back on it, he had thought he had smelt Hiei on her when she entered the kitchen, but he had discarded it as nonsense and gone back to reading.

Kurama had pushed open the door to the living room to see Yusuke and Kuwabara furiously pressing away at the two controllers they were holding, trying to outdo each other in the video game. Kurama had cleared his throat and Yusuke had turned to greet him, when the words died in his throat when his eyes landed on Emerald's limp figure.

"What happened?" gaped Yusuke.

"I'm not sure," lied Kurama smoothly, "Youko had taken over."

And that was where they were now, Yusuke just having questioned what Youko had done to Emerald. Kuwabara paused the video game and got off the couch so Kurama could lay Emerald down. They looked at her for a few moments, her hair covering the mark that only Kurama, Youko, and Hiei knew she had, and then they simultaneously sighed.

Yusuke and Kuwabara sat down on a different couch and continued their video game, not bothering to be quiet and once or twice ending up on the floor fighting each other over who the real winner was. Kurama had retrieved his book from the kitchen and sat in an armchair, torn between continuing to read or finding Hiei and talking to him about his mate. Kurama had a very strong suspicion that the union hadn't been intentional, especially after Emerald had fainted from the news.

"Ah no."

Kurama peeked over the top of his book to see Emerald sitting up and holding her head in her hands. She rubbed her eyes then quickly pulled her dark hair into her hands in a ponytail. She was about to put it into place with a ribbon that matched her eyes, when she touched her free hand to the mark and let her hair fall back around her shoulders. She blinked a few times and looked around the room, getting her bearings. Her eyes landed on Yusuke and Kuwabara, and then slowly made their way over to Kurama. An angry look crossed over her face when she saw Kurama.

"Do me a favor and tell Youko that if he ever makes himself present in my company again, I will not hesitate to create massive bodily harm on him," spat Emerald, baring her fangs. Kurama shuddered and the spirit fox himself smirked inside Kurama's mind, thinking that she was too weak to carry out with the threat.

"You're awake," stated Yusuke, not taking his eyes off the video game. He seemed slightly disappointed that she hadn't stayed unconscious longer, and Kurama could tell that Emerald knew that the detective had meant for '_…unfortunately_' to come after that sentence.

"It would appear that way," replied Emerald coolly.

"So, what happened anyway?"

A hardened look came into the immortal's eyes as she regarded Yusuke. After a second's hesitation she calmly said, "I believe that is none of your concern, _usted idiota curioso_."

Kurama chuckled lightly at the Spanish insult, and Emerald smirked at the confused Yusuke before turning to face the _kitsune_. She looked him up and down with curiousness and then stared unblinkingly into his eyes, thoroughly intimidating him.

"You speak Spanish?"

"Not much."

"Oh?"

The immortal raised her eyebrows and then stood from the couch, brushing off her _kimono_. She straightened her shoulders and walked towards the window. She placed a hand at the bottom and her arm muscles tensed as she grabbed and pulled up, opening the window wide enough for her to crawl through. Emerald placed her hands at either side of the window and one bare foot on the window seat before pausing.

"Tell him that we must talk soon, even if he does not wish to."

With that she pulled herself out of the window and jumped the five stories from the window to the ground. Kurama listened for the _thump _that would come with her landing, yet never heard it. She had either been very quiet or not landed at all.

Kurama knew she had been referring to Hiei when she had asked the favor of him, and he sighed before closing his book and looking at the ceiling. He either had to go on Emerald's authority and bother the fire demon, who was probably in a very temperamental mood and ready to harm anyone with his well-known katana if they so much as came near him, or ignore the request from Emerald and face her wrath, which might be equally as harmful to Kurama's person. Not to mention she was the Lady of the Northern Makai.

He stood with another sigh and went to face the lesser of the two evils.


	11. The Birds

**Chapter Ten**

I walked lazily through the woods, knowing that even if Kurama had followed through with my order that Hiei would refuse to talk to me. He wasn't exactly the talking type.

I gave a sigh and let my hand brush against the bark of a tree, inhaling at the same time as I briefly closed my eyes. I stopped walking and touched my hand to my neck, wincing when my fingers made contact with the mark my new mate made. It was still sore and stung slightly when anything made contact with it.

I pulled down a branch on a random tree and closely observed the twigs at the end, sorting the live ones from the dead ones. I finally grabbed one and twisted it, breaking it from the rest of the branch. I looked at the frayed end and saw the light green that meant it was live. I stuck it in my mouth and chewed.

A breeze washed over the top of the trees, making them sway and let patches of sunlight shine through the openings. I jumped into a tree and sat on a branch with my arms crossed, one leg bent at the knee, and the other one hanging loosely off the side. I took a deep breath and took the twig out of my mouth, chewing on the other end.

There was a sudden weight on my left shoulder and something gently bit my ear.

I looked to see a tiny white bird there. It twittered and flapped its wings, hopping onto my leg. I smiled and uncrossed my arms to scratch its breast, earning me another playful nip on my finger.

"Hello, there. Aren't you a pretty thing?" I cooed.

_Pina, _spoke the bird in my mind.

"Emerald," I said, introducing myself as well.

_Sister?_

I grinned. "I guess you could call me that. My species are naturally related to every animal that walks among the three worlds."

_Smell good._

"Thank you."

_Sister nice._

"Well, I would hope so. It would be awful if I was unkind." I looked around in the surrounding trees. "Are there any more of you?"

As soon as I spoke at least a hundred birds, all different species, came down from the surrounding trees and found spots to cling to on my kimono. Some were in my hair, others were on my legs, but most seemed to want to perch on my shoulders. The ones who couldn't find a spot on me to sit on either sat on the branches around me or the end of the branch I was sitting on. They were all singing in their different tunes and all were trying to mind-speak with me. It was getting very confusing. I offered my hand to Pina and she hopped on, flapping her wings once to balance herself.

"Quiet, _por favor_," I said loudly.

The volume of noise went down considerably and the birds all turned their heads to face me, blinking and tipping their heads to the side. It was a beautiful sight. I felt like I was in a cocoon of colors, not able to see much else besides the birds with them all over the branches and me like that. The sun would be going down soon, and then I would have to leave.

"Were you all hiding from me?" There wasn't an answer and I took that as a yes. I looked to Pina in my hand and continued, "Why were you all hiding from me?"

_Scared, _they chorused as one.

"Are you still scared?"

_No._

I smiled and replied, "This is good to hear." I shifted on the branch. "Would you all mind moving off of me so I may stand on the ground. I'm not fond of one of you getting hurt on my account."

Without speaking a word the birds all lifted into the air in a cloud of colors, watching and circling as I jumped onto the ground. When I'd brushed my kimono off I made sure I stayed standing, knowing if I sat I'd be covered in birds once more and not able to get up.

I whistled at them and they sang back, causing me to grin. My grin widened as I turned on my heel and bolted through the trees on a path probably made by a bear. The birds circled once more around the tree I'd been sitting in before flying after me, still singing. A few faster ones flew ahead of me, while the slower ones hung back. The daring ones circled my body, their feathers tickling my face.

I jumped and spun, grinning. My speed slowed considerably as I did this and the birds behind me floated above my head, shooting through the tops of the trees only to dive back through and twirl around me. I continued running down the path and abruptly broke into a small meadow.

The birds billowed out like a cloud of smoke, painting colors against the blue sky and green trees. I ran to the middle of the meadow and twirled in a circle, raising my arms to the sky as the birds began circling me in a colorful column.

I stopped and lowered my arms, whistling a short note. The birds all sent variations of the note back at me, bringing me to smile again. It wasn't a crazy happy smile, I never smiled ones like those. I always smiled lightly in content, never truly happy. Things just didn't seem worth being happy over after the life I led.

With a sigh I cupped my hands around my mouth and whistled, making sure every bird heard my call. They twittered the same tune of good-bye back to me and then flew off into the sky and trees, Pina lingering behind the rest to nip my ear one more time.

_Sister._

"Sister," I agreed, watching as she launched herself off my shoulder and followed those who had flown into the trees.

I looked down at myself to see the droppings of many birds caked into my hair and kimono. I couldn't bring myself to blame the birds because they had no control of their bodily functions. It was one of the setbacks about having that many around you.

I shook my head and smiled, heading off to find a river to wash myself.

* * *

I squeezed the remaining water out of my hair and stepped out of the lazily moving river, stepping back into my under-things and wrapping my wet kimono around me, tying my obi to keep it in place. I'd found the crystal clear river only moments after I'd started walking and I'd only too happily washed my clothes and hair.

The outfit would dry as I walked back.

I walked just as lazily out of the woods as I had walking in, and by the time I reached Koenma's massive castle I was already dry and the sun was already beginning to set. There couldn't possibly be any harm in visiting Koenma, could there?

I summoned my energy and created a portal long enough for me to step through, appearing right in front of the prince's desk. He was in his older form and sitting at his desk with his fingers tented, almost as if he knew I'd be coming.

"I knew you'd be coming."

That answered that theory.

"Then you know why I am here?" I asked.

His eyes made their way to the mark and he sighed. "Vaguely."

"You know, then, that Hiei is-"

"Your mate. Yes, yes, I'm aware of that," interrupted Koenma, waving his hand as if it was a trivial matter. I bristled at his impoliteness and obvious lack of concern for the matter at hand. A little growl escaped my throat and he sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Is there any way this can be undone?" I questioned, taking my dagger out of the sheath on my leg out of boredom. Koenma tended to have that affect on people. My katana was still in Genkai's temple, but I trusted her with guarding it from thieves.

"Let me see," replied Koenma. He snapped his fingers and Jorge appear by his side.

"You called, sir?"

"Find me a book on mates in our library, if you will. Try to make it fast," ordered Koenma, waving Jorge away and turning his attention back to me. The problem was my attention wasn't entirely there. Instead, it was focusing on the dagger I was spinning on the tip of my finger. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"_Si_," I answered bluntly.

"And yet you continue doing it."

"I am getting accustomed with it. If I am not familiar with my weapon in a battle, the results will probably be fatal. And for the record, I have no desire to die at this point in time."

"I would've been content with a yes or no answer."

"And yet, where is the fun in that?"

"Got it!" cried Jorge, running towards Koenma's desk and waving a book wildly over his head. Every time his foot connected with the ground, it shook. I widened the distance between my feet to keep my balance.

"Thank you, Jorge," said Koenma, taking the book from his grasp. Jorge grinned widely at the compliment and ran back off to do other things. I glanced at the title and it flashed back at me in bold letters: Mates. Not exactly the most complicated book to find.

"May I inquire as to what this is going to reveal to us?" I asked, beginning to throw my dagger up and down in the air, catching it by the handle every time.

Koenma flipped to the back of the book where the index was and began going down the alphabetical list of subjects with his finger on the page. "Fire demons….fire demons…fire demons…" he muttered to himself.

I raised an eyebrow, my concentration drifting from my dagger. I accidentally spun it wrong, so when it came back down, I unintentionally caught the blade part. There was a hiss and a stab of pain and I dropped the dagger with a hiss of my own, clutching my hand. There was a three inch cut from the blade, and a bright red burn from the human-made metal. The injuries were going to take longer to heal than other ones, since they were caused by the one thing that could kill me.

Koenma ignored me.

I cursed in Spanish and then bent down to pick up the aforementioned object, a scowl crossing my features as I did. I sighed and without missing a beat began tossing it up and down once more.

"Aha! Found it!" cried Koenma suddenly, finding the page number he was looking for and startling me into almost injuring myself again. I stopped throwing the dagger and grabbed the handle tightly in my fist, wondering how many years of prison I'd have to endure if I killed the prince of Reikai.

"Hm," I hummed, lips pressed into a firm line to prevent me from making a snide remark. He flipped through the pages and finally stopped on a chapter titled: Fire Demons. Once again I realized the person who wrote this book obviously hadn't written it to be creative.

His eyes skimmed over a few paragraphs before he finally decided to read me a snippet. "It says here that fire demons only mate once in their life. They'll have the same mate until they die or their mate dies."

I gazed thoughtfully down at my dagger as Koenma looked up.

"I hope I don't have to tell you that killing one of my spirit detectives would most definitely be considered a crime," said Koenma.

I sighed and muttered, "_Si_. Anything else?"

His eyes flickered to the book and then up at me. "Exactly what do you want to know, Emerald?"

"Actions, moods; anything that will help me live with this man for the rest of my life," I said exasperatedly, waving my dagger in the air.

Koenma kept a wary eye on the sharp weapon as he said, "You're handling this quite well, you know."

"_Gracias_."

"It wasn't a compliment – it was an observation."

"I will learn to live with it," I said shortly.

Yeah, right. I felt like curling into a ball and crying.

"If you say so," sighed Koenma. He went back to the book. "It also says that a fire demon is unusually protective of his or her mate, and tends to be more affectionate around them." Koenma paused to chuckle, and I knew he was conjuring up a visual of Hiei being affectionate to anyone. It wasn't a likely one. He cleared his throat and continued, "'In male fire demons, they are especially protective of their mates. They will try to be around them at all times, and get strong urges to attack any male who approaches too closely.' I don't really see anything else that would come of use to you, Emerald."

"I didn't believe I would ever say this to you Koenma, but _gracias_. For everything," I sighed, sliding my dagger back into the holder around my leg. Koenma gave me a smile and nodded as I walked out the office and conjured a portal to the private kitchen of the Reikai Tantei.

When I stepped out of the portal, my eyes almost immediately drifted to the spot where Youko had trapped me against the counter. A shiver came over my body and I hurriedly reached into the refrigerator, blindly grabbing the first thing my hand came in contact with. Luckily, it was an apple.

I had already eaten half of it by the time I walked into the living room and came face to face with the Reikai Tantei, my two soldiers and daughter, and the four women friends of the Reikai Tantei.

They were all talking and laughing, my daughter sitting in Kuwabara's lap and watching with a grin as he and Yusuke fought over who deserved the last soda can. It was sitting on the table as they fought, Adoncia giggling every now and then. Even when she couldn't understand Japanese, she knew that what they were talking about was silly.

I gave Adoncia the rest of my apple, unknown to the two obviously hungry and thirsty idiots, and she took it with a quick thank you. I picked up the soda curiously, wondering what it tasted like, and popped the top open. I sniffed it cautiously and reasoned that it didn't smell all that bad.

"Hey!" cried Yusuke and Kuwabara, realizing that I'd taken it.

I took a sip and immediately spit it back out, managing in getting every drop all over Yusuke's face. I set the soda back down on the table and gasped, my eyes watering. My tongue and throat were stinging and it felt like I'd just had a thousand tiny explosions go off in my mouth.

"_Maldiga!_" I cried, blinking. "It burns!"

"It's not painful," debated Yusuke, "it's good. You're just not used to it."

"How is it possible for anyone to become accustomed to _that_?"

"Well, it's not _im_possible."

I glared and muttered, "I highly doubt it."

I handed the soda to Kuwabara, who grinned goofily at me, and then leaned against the wall with my arms crossed next to the couch December and Destiny were sitting on.

"Evenin' Lady," greeted December with a lop-sided grin.

"Do you _always _call her Lady?" asked Yusuke, rolling his eyes.

The grins fell off the twins' faces as soon as the words had left his mouth. They settled for glaring ferociously.

"We don't _have _to," answered Destiny, "but it's a sign of respect; which I can see you desperately lack for _your _ruler. Believe it or not, the Makai is actually much more civilized than you might think."

Yusuke snorted and replied with, "Yeah, right."

"Urameshi, I assure you myself that they are most accurate," I interrupted before the fight became fiercer. "If you wish, when we have time one day, I will take you for a visit in one of the towns." He opened his mouth and before he could say anything I continued, "Think about it for awhile."

This whole time I had successfully avoided eye contact with Hiei, who seemed perfectly fine to keep staring out the window with a scowl on his face. I glanced over at him to see he was looking at me in the glass. I quickly looked away with a light heat rising to my cheeks, though not a deep enough blush to be noticeable.

"We have a surprise for you."

I shook my head and looked to the twins. "What?"

"We have a-"

"-surprise for you."

"I believe I've had enough surprises within the last few days to last me quite a long time," I sighed, leaning more heavily against the wall. Kurama sent me a quick glance.

"It's not that bad," said December, frowning. "All we're doing is getting an apartment next to Kayko's so we can keep an eye on you."

My eyes went to Kayko. "I thought you lived in a house."

"I did, yes," she explained, "but that was before I was in college and living with my parents. A little while after I completed college I found an apartment not too far away so I could live on my own." She furrowed her eyebrows. "As they tell me, though, I won't be."

I nodded. "Koenma has arranged for me to live with you. I apologize for him bringing this upon you without you even knowing beforehand."

"It's no problem," smiled Kayko.

"We have another surprise!" sang the twins in unison.

"_Por favor_, no," I groaned.

"You'll really like this one, though!" grinned December, exchanging a glance with her sister.

I rubbed my forehead. "I do find that hard to believe."

"Now, dinnae be like tha', lass," said a voice from the doorway to the living room. I looked up sharply and bent over slightly, hand resting on my calf where my dagger was. It took me a moment to register who I was seeing.

"Jin," I said in shock, eyes widening. I launched myself at him.

"Easy there," he laughed, wrapping his arms around my body.

I looked up at him and his long ears wiggled as he smiled. He still looked the same as the last time I'd seen him; even his strikingly red hair was the same length. A little white horn was placed upon his head. I suddenly glared up at him.

"Where have you been the past few years?" I demanded, pulling away from him and crossing my arms.

He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "We be'n trav'lin' a fair bit."

"And you just saw it fit not to inform me where you were going?"

"Our 'pologies, sheila," said a voice behind Jin.

I leaned to the side and my eyes landed on Rinku, Chuu, and Touya, then narrowed.

"Don't mistakenly believe that you're getting out of this one," I growled, turning my back on the four of them. "I haven't seen the four of you in two years. You can't just come and expect me to be happy you're back."

"You seemed happy a second ago," muttered Rinku. I turned briefly to glare at him before turning back around with a deeper scowl on my face.

"Wait, wait, wait," spluttered Yusuke, holding up a hand. "How do you guys know each other?"

"Jin's parents had a business in the Makai selling furs that we made, and he often tagged along when they came to Mexico to trade with my village," I replied. "When my village was slaughtered, I accidentally opened a portal to a town in the Makai and lost all contact with him. After I had Adoncia at sixteen, I came upon the four of them in the demon village I was living in. I met the other three then. By that time, I was already one year into becoming a kind of second in command to the ruler of the Makai. Three years later the ruler died of…questionable activities and the Makai split, so I became Lady of the Northern Makai, while Taku was appointed Lord of the Southern Makai." I glared at them. "They disappeared two years ago."

"Oh," said Yusuke, looking as if he hadn't understood a word I had said.

"Ye can' poss'bly be angry wit' us forever," sighed Jin. I crossed my arms and glared at the ceiling. "C'mon, now…"

He stood next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, putting on his best pleading face. I looked over my shoulder to see Rinku and Chuu doing the same; Touya merely gave an apologetic smile. I sighed and smiled, causing Chuu and Rinku to give whoops of happiness and Jin to grin at me and give me friendly kiss on the cheek. He was possibly the only male who could touch me and not make me nervous.

There was a movement in my peripheral vision and I saw Hiei glaring at Jin from his window seat. With my sensitive ears I could just barely hear a low growl coming from him. I remembered what Koenma had told me about fire demons and protectiveness. I quickly stepped out of Jin's grip, much to his confusion, and turned to Kayko with a smirk on my face.

"Need help moving into your apartment?"


End file.
